Becoming an Uchiha
by College n Curls
Summary: Some say that the union was meant solely to create the ultimate weapon at Konoha's disposal. Others claim that it was out of familial sacrifice. A small segment claim that it originated through the love for another man. What no one would say was that it was a mutual, or even consensual, agreement. SEQUEL POSTED
1. Becoming Necessary

**CCNote:** **Ah! A brand spanking new story! I won't bore you with an extra-long ccnote but please don't forget to REVIEW! Since this a new story reviews help to get the attention of readers to give my story a shot! So do it! Leave a review! I'm holding a gun to your head lol jk. Please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't earn any coins from this. I could be doing more productive things with my life but instead I choose to write fanfiction. Idk what that says about me. Kishimoto and co own the characters blah, blah, blah.**

 **Special Thanks to my Betas: KCMC66 and Starvixen64**

 **I.**

 **Becoming Necessary**

"What do you think?"

What did she think?

 _What did she think?_

How could they ask her such a loaded question? Hinata bit her bottom lip and looked back at the hospital bed that had been Uchiha Sasuke's home for the last six months. Hooked up to thousands of wires which connected to state of the art machines all whirring a mile a minute just to keep the once great ninja alive. His name alone had instilled fear in the hearts of millions of people.

Tales of his Sharingan and supposed acquisition of the Rinnegan had elevated him to the levels of power that were rumored to surpass even Madara. He was integral to helping Naruto end the great ninja war, without him she knew that it was a strong possibility that she and everyone breathing in Konoha right now would be dead.

Yet, the culmination of the man known as Sasuke Uchiha was reduced to nothing more than a vegetable in a back corner of the hospital basement. Aside from the machines crowded together in the dark, dank space, Sakura had placed a vase of purple flowers. It was a paltry attempt at making the basement less of a crypt than it already was.

Hinata looked at the sad, broken man lying unconscious before her and noted how visible his veins were against skin that hadn't seen the sun in months. His hair had grown significantly during his incapacitation, staining the white pillow his head rested upon like black ink. His eyes, eyes that possessed two of the strongest kekkegenkai Konoha had ever known, remained closed and for that she was grateful. With nothing but a thin, white hospital sheet to cover his lower half, Hinata would have thought he were a cadaver ready for autopsy except for the almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest.

So…what _did_ she think? At this point, it would be more merciful to just pull the plug on the man but she couldn't say that. She couldn't give her honest opinion on the matter when Naruto and Sakura were counting so heavily on her. They may have asked what she thought but they didn't want the harsh truth.

"Well?" Sakura asked nervously. "Do you think you can do anything?"

Hinata's shoulders slumped as she picked up on the undertone of suppressed desperation in Sakura's voice. If Konoha's best medic couldn't help Sasuke what could she possibly do for him? She knew that Sakura had been working tirelessly to find a way to revive him, Hinata was the one who had to pick up her slack after all when she stole away from her regular duties. There had been countless mornings that she'd found Sakura passed out with unraveled scrolls spilling off of her already cluttered desk.

She was trying her best to bring the last Uchiha back to the world of the living but it appeared that her best wasn't good enough. Hinata turned her eyes away from the unconscious man to look at his teammates huddled together watching her with expectant eyes. She could handle disappointing Sakura, the woman was a medic after all and was used to receiving unfortunate information on a daily basis. No matter how much she loved him, no matter how broken she felt, Hinata knew that Sakura would be able to continue on. Sasuke was not the first patient she'd lost and he certainly wouldn't be the last.

Naruto on the other hand…she couldn't even look him the eye. His entire life had been spent trying to bring back one of the people he loved the most in this world. If Sasuke died Hinata was positive that a large part of Naruto would die as well. That was something she couldn't allow to happen. Taking a deep breath in through her nose and clenching her fists by her sides, Hinata gave the only thing she could to them.

 _Her best_.

"I'll try." She said softly.

As if a switch went off inside of her two companions, their brightly colored eyes lit up. Sakura left Naruto's side to wrap her up in a tight hug, blubbering out a chocked 'thanks' mixed with instructions on what to do. Hinata couldn't really focus on what she was saying though. Not when Naruto was smiling so genuinely…so hopefully at her. The sight made her heart selfishly skip a beat. She couldn't give him much but she could, at the very least, do her best to save his most important person.

'Because he's _my_ most important person.' Hinata thought as Sakura finally broke their embrace.

"Okay. Sorry for crying like that Hina-chan!" Sakura sniffed. "I don't mean to get so emotional on you."

"I understand Sakura-san." Hinata replied, averting her gaze as the pink haired woman wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.

Naruto offered her a crumpled-up handkerchief from the pocket of his jacket and Sakura didn't think twice about accepting it and blowing her nose in it. He took the dirtied cloth back without hesitation and returned it to the same pocket. He then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and she didn't even punch him for doing so. The closeness of Team 7 was something none of the other Rookie 9 could understand. Each team was close in their own way but none so much as them. Inwardly Hinata frowned at t heir innocent interaction but tamped down her own insecure feelings. Now was not the time for petty jealousies.

"Alright. Okay. Let's do this!" Sakura said confidently, steel returning to her green eyes. "As a Hyuuga, you will be able to see his chakra pathways unlike me. I might have a generic map of where they are in the average body but as you know the more chakra a body can hold the more pathways there are to contend with. I've tried just about everything but I'm still going in blind. Your chakra is a lot more gentle than mine is. Mine is just too strong. If I were to attempt this I'd probably make things worse."

Hinata nodded along but she wasn't quite sure if she was supposed to take Sakura's assessment of her chakra as being 'gentle' as a compliment or an insult. Sure she couldn't demolish buildings with her fists but her chakra wasn't weak. To handle the power of the Byakugan without going blind meant that she had to have more chakra pathways in her own body as well as the means to control it. She shrugged off the conundrum and focused instead on the details of the procedure Sakura was asking her to do.

It seemed simple enough. All of Sasuke's pathways were blocked, she'd assessed that with only a simple scan of her Byakugan upon entering the room. The plan was to slowly open the pathways starting with his brain and hopefully once his pathways were restored he would wake up on his own. Hopefully.

"So, let's get started-" Sakura said but was interrupted by a knock on the heavy basement door.

The conscious occupants in the room immediately tensed up but relaxed when they saw that it was only an Anbu operative. Their white dog mask muffled their voice, but their message still got across.

"Hokage-sama wishes to see Sakura and Naruto."

The pair exchanged worried looks as soon as the operative disappeared, neither one sure whether to stay or go.

"Shit." Naruto cursed under his breath, running his hand through his hair. "The council."

"What are we going to do?"

"Dammit. I thought Kakashi would be able to hold them off a bit longer."

Hinata looked back and forth at her two worried companions as they tried to hypothesize what to do. She didn't quite understand why such a summons would make them anxious like this.

"We have to do something Naruto!" Sakura said. "They-they're going to take his eyes and pull the plug. They're going to kill him. They-"

"Hey! Didn't I say that I wouldn't allow that to happen?"

"You're not the Hokage."

"Even still. I won't let them do that."

"Naruto-" Sakura started to say but the blonde shook his head and started to push her out of the room.

"You head up first. I'll be right after you." He said. Sakura's brow furrowed worriedly and she looked back over her shoulder at the Uchiha being kept alive by machines. "Just trust me Sakura. Okay?"

Sakura bit her bottom lip and reluctantly tore her eyes away from Sasuke's unconscious form, allowing Naruto to give her one last push toward the door. When the basement door shut with a loud clang, Hinata felt her breath hitch slightly. This was the first time she'd been alone in a room with Naruto. Well, not alone exactly since Sasuke was there but he didn't really count. With a heavy sigh, Naruto approached her and took both of her hands into his own. Hinata blushed at how warm they were, immediately conscious of how cold her own felt in comparison.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you Hina-chan but could you get started now." He asked. His blue eyes stared straight into her own, imploring her to work a miracle. "I'll explain later I promise but please…please try."

Hinata opened her mouth to respond. Part of her wanted to assuage all of his concerns and declare proudly that of course, she could save his most important person. Another part wanted to beg him not to hate her for failing. The conflicting thoughts within her mind continued to go to war with one another simply resulted in her closing her mouth and trying to make sure she didn't start hyperventilating. All she could do was nod before Naruto wrapped his arms around her in a hug, pressing her close to his body. His breath tickled her ear, turning the skin there red as she held her own breath. Her heart skipped a beat at his closeness and his whispered words, those two simple words, were more than she'd ever thought he'd say to her.

"Thank you."

….

Tired…that was the only way to describe his current state of being.

Never in life had he felt so weak and he hated the sensation. All he wanted to do was finally let go of his earthly, broken body. Perhaps he already had. Perhaps this was what death was, a mind-numbing expanse of nothing. Somehow, he found that hard to believe no matter how hard he tried to come to terms with it. His inability to do so wasn't because he was afraid of dying. In fact, _he wanted to die_. He wanted to end the cursed Uchiha line once and for all so that it would no longer plague the earth. That desire, that wish to die, was out of his reach. Something _or someone_ was keeping him here, trapped within the recesses of his own mind.

If he was a betting man he would have put money on either Kabuto or Orochimaru becoming successful in finally making him into the vessel they'd always dreamed he would be. How they managed that feat Sasuke had no idea but it was the only reason for this prolonged state of purgatory he was experiencing. It was odd though that he couldn't feel them. He couldn't feel his own body for that matter. Is this what it meant to become a vessel? If so it was a fate worse than hell. At least hell was a place that could be interesting. Fire, brimstone, eternal suffering? Sure. Anything would be better than the utter nothingness that he'd been presented with.

The only thing he could hope for was that his body rotted quickly like all of the others. Maybe then he'd finally be able to die. Suddenly a spark of electricity pricked the tip of his tongue and the taste of blood flooded his mouth. The coppery sensation set off an oddly comforting feeling within him and confirmed that he was in fact alive. He focused on the taste and tried to harness that small pinprick of electricity. He wanted, no needed more. He needed to get out. He needed to kill whoever made him suffer like this.

Slowly but surely that electric feeling grew sharper within him, honing his senses and causing a familiar spike of adrenaline. The taste of it had a seductive edge, drawing him further from the lethargy that had previously overtaken him. That spike set off an involuntary response of fight or flight and the Uchiha knew all too well what his body's answer would be. To fight. To kill. The electricity started from the tips of his toes and ran the length of every vein and artery in his body, growing rapidly to an almost unbearable point.

For a moment Sasuke was almost confused as to if it were really adrenaline or if his organs were being cooked. If he wasn't being used as a vessel before he surely must be undergoing the process now. As the burning intensified, the feeling of his own body returned along with a gentle sensation gliding against him was. It was an odd juxtaposition. He focused on the softness, blocking out the pain as it began to crescendo. It was a longshot but if he could just grab a hold of the softness he could end his own suffering.

Blindly, Sasuke reached out into the darkness and his hands found purchase on something warm and smooth and strangely beating. Without a second thought, he squeezed. There was a gasp, the first sound that he'd heard in so long that wasn't from inside of his own head. He squeezed harder.

The burning ceased.

….

"We have given you ample time Kakashi. It's high time that you stopped being unreasonable. We understand that he was your pupil but he is a traitor, an S-class criminal at that. Surely you would not extend this same song and dance if this were someone else?"

Kakashi narrowed his uncovered eye at the worried councilman but didn't speak on the man's question. His silence was more than enough to cow the elderly man into slumping in his seat but the other people in attendance were not to be sway. Gathered all around him were not only Konoha's councilmembers but the heads of all of the surviving clans of their nation. Normally he wouldn't involve Konoha's clan in a matter such as this but he had no choice.

The council wanted Sasuke dead, however, maybe it was his sentimental side or maybe Naruto had finally gotten to him, he wouldn't allow that to happen. He'd stalled the council up to this point to give Sakura a chance to revive his former pupil before the council executed him in his sleep. The least he could do for Sasuke was allow him to be conscious while he stood trial for his crimes. However, the council was rabid and the villagers equally so. They wanted to see someone, anyone, pay for tearing husbands away from their wives and mothers from their children. For genin being dragged into a war that they had no business being in and comrades dying needlessly.

They wanted blood, Uchiha blood.

The only thing Kakashi had at this point was to gain some sort of leverage and that came in the form of the other clans. From the Aburame to the Yamanaka, all of Konoha's great clans had taken a large hit during the war. They had already sacrificed so much to keep Konoha safe but he had to ask them for this one last thing. To keep Sasuke alive. After the truth of Itachi's sacrifice had been revealed to those within this very room, no one could make eye contact with anyone for they knew the reality they'd been faced with.

Any one of them could have been the Uchiha. All of them had jockeyed for more power at one point or another during Konoha's history. If things had gone another way, if there had been someone like Danzo pulling the strings, they would have been slaughtered as well. What the council was asking now was to finally put an end to the Uchiha line in Konoha and if the Uchiha fell what kind of precedent did that set? One whiff of insurrection and their clan could be next. Kakashi let out a slow breath through his nose and threaded his fingers together in front of him.

"Sasuke has awoken." He said, picking up where he had left off before the councilman had interrupted him. "Naruto and Sakura confirmed it to me just before you all entered the room."

"Wonderful! Now he can wreak havoc on the innocent citizens of Konoha."

"That boy is a menace and it would have been more merciful to have executed him months ago."

"Are you going to be responsible for the slaughter."

"Hokage-sama-"

Kakashi silenced the outrage with a simple raising of his hand.

"Enough of this. Sasuke is no longer a threat to the village." He said firmly although he didn't fully believe his own words.

"Right now maybe but what happens when he's restored to his full strength? What's to stop him from going on a rampage?" a councilman asked and Kakashi opened his mouth to answer but Shikamaru beat him to the punch.

"What is there to stop you from deciding that the Nara pose such a threat next time?" the newly instated Nara head asked and the councilman sputtered.

"We would never! The Nara are an honorable clan to Konoha they are nothing like the Uchiha!"

"What you mean to say is that you believe that we can be easily cowed into submission."

"Not at all!"

"Your tongue says one thing but your eyes say another." Ino Yamanaka perked up, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the wooden tabletop. "I don't need to read your mind to know that you are a liar."

"Kakashi!" a councilwoman gasped. "Why are these children even here in this meeting? None of this pertains to them."

"We are the acting heads of our clans and survivors the Great Ninja War." Shikamaru yawned. "I would hardly call us children. I don't like Sasuke. I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him but he is half of the reason that this village is still standing. There are other ways of dealing with this than ending one of the most powerful kekkegenkais the world has known."

"Then just take his eyes and be done with it." A councilman sneered.

"No." Kakashi said. Taking Sasuke's eyes would be a fate worse than killing him.

"Then what do you propose we do Kakashi?" the councilwoman hissed. "Allow him to roam free unchecked and unrepentant to his crimes? How can we ensure his continued loyalty to Konoha."

Kakashi's uncovered eye closed at the woman's words. They didn't want loyalty. They wanted submission. They wanted control. They wanted-

"Hokage-sama." Hiashi Hyuuga spoke up. "If I may interject? I have a solution."

Kakashi eyed the man warily. Hiashi Hyuuga hardly ever spoke up during meetings like this, making him a hard to predict player. It was strategic on the Hyuuga's part to keep his cards so close to his chest. Once considered the strongest clan after the Uchiha, it would have been very easy for the Hyuuga to take the Uchihas' place.

"The Uchiha bloodline is too powerful to be ended. If Konoha is going to defend itself against future threats we will need as much power as we can get. Taking his eyes may work for us in the short term but there will never be another true Uchiha." The Hyuuga said calmly. Shikamaru sat a little straighter in his chair, paying close attention to the older man's words.

"You wish to breed him." The brunette said and an uncomfortable mummer spread over the room.

"I would not be so crude as to use that term but the line has to continue somehow."

"And how do you expect him to stay in the village long enough to have a child or even agree to such a thing?" a councilwoman asked.

Hiashi folded his hands in his lap and looked the elderly woman in the eye.

"The same way the Hyuuga have always kept our secrets from falling into the hands of those outside of the village as well as those within it."

Kakashi frowned behind his mask at Hiashi's words but the council members seemed to be intrigued. As the councilwoman opened her mouth, Kakashi stood up and cleared his throat.

"Thank you for your time."

The tone of finality that seemed to surprise the room's occupants, objections hanging on the tips of their tongues. Reluctantly they shuffled out of the room but Hiashi Hyuuga remained seated. His pale eyes turned toward him as soon as the door to the conference shut.

"Hyuuga-san." Kakashi started but Hiashi interrupted him.

"I will get straight to the point." He said, rising from his seat as well. "The Hyuuga's numbers have been decimated. We are not as powerful as we once were. However, we are the only ones that are capable of standing between that boy and his inevitable execution."

 **To be continued…** _ **II. Becoming a Pawn**_


	2. Becoming a Pawn

**CCNote: Wow! Y'all are spoiling me lol. I'm so floored by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to this story! I even managed to pick up 3 or 4 (rather creative) new flamers on top of the usual 'go die' person. I'd say that means I'm doing something right lol. I'm loving all of the reviews and now I feel super motivated lol! **

**Anywho I hope you're as excited for this story as I am! The outline has me so giddy I can't stand it! As always my stories don't always go the way you're expecting them to but I think you'll like the ride. Please enjoy! Don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **II.**

 **Becoming a Pawn**

The first thing that returned to him was his sense of hearing. It was jarring at first for his ears to be assaulted by a strangely incessant amalgamation of whooshing, whirring, and beeping. However, under all the noise, there were voices although it felt as though he was listening to them from underwater.

" _Oh my god! Are you okay?"_

Who was supposed to be okay? Him? He couldn't feel anything anymore except for the ghostly sensation of being burned.

" _I'm so sorry."_

In Sasuke's humble opinion they could take their apology and shove it up their-

" _Please don't tell. Please. I'm sorry-"_

The Uchiha would have listened to more of the unknown person's incessant begging of their companion but his fatigue was returning and with it, his own thoughts receded. His hearing wasn't very reliable though. It faded in and out intermittently throughout his sparse periods of consciousness. Most of the time he was only able to hear an annoyingly heavy breathing in his ears.

The next sense to return was smell which did nothing but assist in making his head hurt from sensory overload. When it wasn't an overpowering smell of cherry blossoms and rubbing alcohol, it was a nostril burning antiseptic scent that reminded him of a hospital. At other times there was a strong smell of sandalwood, dirt, and sweat. That smell was comforting in an odd way, like whoever it belonged to had spent all day out in the forest. The worst smell was the one that accompanied the heavy breathing in his ear. It was a soft smell that he couldn't quite place. Was it lavender? Maybe vanilla? Whatever it was it reminded him of his childhood and such a thing was more than a little unwelcome. It made him want to vomit.

The final sense he'd obtained was touch which was both a relief and a curse. A relief because with each time he gained consciousness he could feel more and more of his body even though it didn't quite feel like it belonged to him just yet. A curse because at least when he was mentally trapped he couldn't feel the cold metal that bit into his wrists and ankles and chained him in place. The only thing he hated more than the cuffs was the gentle touch that would sometimes slide over his body.

Usually, that touch was accompanied by that sickening lavender and vanilla smell and the sound of heavy breathing. He'd come to recognize that when those three elements came into congruence it meant that he would experience what felt like an eternity of writhing in pain followed by a return to nothingness. The pain he could take. The nothingness he couldn't. All of this led him to believe that the one these elements belonged to was his torturer, a demon hellbent on making him repent for his sins. Or perhaps Konoha had finally gotten their hands on him and this was his punishment. Or even still he could be apart of some strange experiment enacted by his former sensei and their assistant. Whatever the case was he hated whoever was doing this to him.

As soon as he got his sight back he would be able to put a face to his demon. At that point, the heavy breathing, sickening smelling, deceptively soft being was his first target. His fingers tingled at the prospect knowing that as soon as he gained autonomy that 'soft-being' was as good as dead. Although he distinctly recalled a familiar voice pleading with the 'soft-being' not to tell someone something. Not to tell what he had no idea. Whatever it was had to be bad for the person to plead so desperately.

Part of him, a very large part actually, hoped that they told someone.

Maybe the 'soft-being' was even more vindictive than he was. Maybe it would lead to him dying. If he died then that was the end of the Uchiha and wasn't that what he'd wanted all along? In the end, either he had to die or the 'soft-being' had to. There was no middle ground. Inwardly he chuckled at the impasse he'd created as he allowed fatigue to overtake him once more and he slipped back into the void.

 **….**

Hinata frowned as she sat in front of her vanity, slowly dragging a comb through her bedraggled hair. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and tried not let her gaze fall lower than her chin, but she just couldn't. The fading blue and black marks that marred her pale skin were too much to ignore. She was a kunoichi. She'd been injured in far worse ways before, yet no assailant had managed to strike fear within her the way the Uchiha had.

Even though he'd only been operating at just a fraction of his physical capacity he had managed to catch her off guard enough to nearly kill her. She could still feel his clammy fingers around her throat, cutting off her air supply and dragging her onto his bed so that he could squeeze harder. She tried to push him off of her but the most she could do was claw at his arms and kick wildly from her position underneath him. Despite the fact that her nails had drawn blood, he didn't seem to feel anything and there was only so much that she could do with her air supply cut off. She could still see the pinpricks of white that blurred her vision as angry, unfocused eyes stared back at her. One crimson, the other a ringed violet, and within both of them was nothing more than the determination to kill her. He would have been successful too if Sakura hadn't found them in such a compromising position…

" _Hinata!" Sakura gasped as she immediately launched into pulling the murderous Uchiha off of her._

 _As soon as the physical connection between them was cut, Sasuke fell back onto the bed and resumed his seemingly catatonic state. Sakura quickly set to work checking his heart rate and breathing much to Hinata's chagrin, but she said nothing to oppose her fellow medic. She was too busy trying to heal her own partially crushed windpipe. The warmth of her own chakra soothed the pain of the injury but it did nothing to still her erratically beating heart._ _Once Sakura had completed her rudimentary examination of Sasuke, she turned back to Hinata with unshed tears in her bright green eyes._

" _Oh my god are you okay?" she asked but Hinata couldn't quite speak yet without undoing all of her own self-healing._

 _Sakura's eyes widened with immediate understanding and she removed Hinata's hands from around her neck. She replaced the Hyuuga's fingers with her own and a soft, green glow enveloped the woman's throat. Hinata could feel her esophagus begin to reopen. The threads of muscle that had been torn wove themselves back together, quickly leaving her with nothing more than a slightly sore throat._

" _I'm so sorry." Sakura said as she retracted her hands. "Please don't tell. Please. I'm sorry."_

 _Hinata slid off of the hospital bed, no longer wanting to be near the man that had almost killed her, but Sakura grabbed her wrist. It wasn't a binding hold, Hinata could have easily left if she'd wanted to but her own treacherous nature made her stay._

" _You did it Hinata." She whispered, a bright smile spreading across her tear-streaked face. "You did it!"_

 _The woman then threw her arms around Hinata's neck and sobbed unabashedly into her shoulder._

She had done it.

Somehow, she'd actually been able to draw Sasuke out of his comatose state but at what cost? Sakura was beyond encouraged by the development, each day buoyed ever higher by the feedback they were getting from Sasuke. It wasn't much, a slight rise in temperature one day or a twitch of a finger the next. Sakura tracked his progress meticulously and relayed every 'improvement' to Naruto when he came to visit. Well, almost everything.

Sakura neglected to inform him of their rouge teammate's reflexive murderous tendencies but Hinata wouldn't dare to speak out on her own about it. Not when Naruto hugged her so tightly. Not when he professed his gratitude so genuinely. For once in her life, she hadn't been a hindrance to Naruto but a help. It was an exhilarating sensation to feel needed.

To be appreciated…

Hinata sighed as she traced the marks Sasuke's fingers had left behind. Sakura might have repaired her throat but the bruises still remained a stark contrast to her pale skin. They were healing well on their own but it would be awhile before she could pull her hair up or not put makeup on her neck. Reaching for her foundation and concealer, Hinata set to work covering the marks so she could finally get started on her day. It didn't take too long to do and just as she finished there was a soft knock on her door.

"Hinata-sama." A soft, muffled voice called through the door. "Lord Hiashi wishes to see you."

The Hyuuga heiress blinked. What could her father possibly want with her at this hour? It was unusual for him to even request her presence these days since he was so busy handling the business of their clan. So many of their members had lost their lives, their coffers were dwindling from funding the war, and a large part of the compound had yet to be rebuilt after the Pein attack. Very few could handle the pressure of being a clan head on a normal basis, the laundry list of things her father and the elders were having to deal with was unlike anything their clan had had to deal with before. Hinata bit her bottom lip and rose up from her vanity. She wasn't quite sure what her father wanted or how she could help but whatever it was she'd do her best.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves that she felt creeping in, Hinata opened the sliding shoji door and was greeted with the blank face of her protector Ko. She smiled at him and opened her mouth to say her usual morning greeting but his downcast eyes refused to look at her. He stepped away from the door to give her room to leave and gave her a short, stiff bow out of respect.

"Ko-" she started but he shook his head.

"Lord Hiashi is in the dojo."

'The dojo?' Hinata thought. 'Why would father summon me there?'

It was an odd location but she didn't question it too much. She made her way through the compound, noting self consciously the stares of her clan members as she passed. Absently she touched her neck and prayed that she'd done a good enough job at covering up the bruises. She swallowed thickly and shook the thought away. Of course, she'd covered it well enough. Her fellow clan members were probably only staring at her because they hardly ever saw her. She did spend an inordinate amount of time at the hospital and it wasn't just spent taking care of Sasuke.

Sliding open the back door of the main house, Hinata stepped out onto the back deck and down into the interior courtyard. The prized Hyuuga garden was one of the only things that had remained untouched during the war. Bright gold and rich rubied koi did lazy laps around the pond, swimming up to the water's edge as she passed in hopes that she would throw food down to them. Nothing in the gardens should have held cause for alarm but with each step closer to the dojo, an increasingly uneasy feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. Nervously she stepped up to the front porch of the dojo and kneeled down properly in front of the sliding door as she'd been taught to do as a child. She then slid the door open and bowed low until her forehead nearly touched the floor.

"Hinata." He father called from inside. "Please rise."

Smoothly, Hinata did as she was told and was surprised to find that her father was not alone in the dojo like she'd expected him to be. Seated in a semi-circle on either side of her father were the Hyuuga elders, straight-backed and stern-faced. Curiously enough, to her father's left, there was an empty space. Would someone else be joining them later? Hinata gulped slightly and approached the group of men that had helped lead the Hyuuga long before she was born. Slowly she sank down to her knees in front of her father and bowed low to the tatami-covered floor as she'd done before although she rose upright to sit back on her heels without prompt this time.

"Hinata." Her father said, breaking the stale silence of the room. "You fought well in the war and have continued to represent us well during this time of reconstruction."

Hinata bowed slightly again at her father's compliments. It felt odd that he would praise her so freely but she accepted his words as truth. Her father was not one to use flattery on anyone, least of all her.

"As I am sure you are well aware, we have taken more of a hit than we'd anticipated at the start of the war. We lost more than just Neji…"

A palpable hush fell over the room as the elders and her father had a brief moment of silence for their fallen brethren. Hinata closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing the familiar tingling behind her eyes to remain just that. She couldn't…no she _wouldn't_ cry. She had no right to. Not when she was the reason Neji was dead.

"As per our duty to Konoha, we sent some of the best shinobi among us to fight. Their sacrifice was not in vain for there is now a tentative peace among the five great nations…at least for now. Peace only lasts for so long. We must prepare for the inevitable. That means not becoming complacent. Do you understand?"

"I understand that we must become stronger." Hinata answered with a stiff nod of her head.

Her father's pale eyes softened a bit at her response before the shoji door to the dojo opened behind her.

"I hope I'm not too late." A lazy voice groused as they stepped into the room. "I had to win my hat back from a bunch of goons."

'Hokage-sama?' Hinata thought as she watched the gray-haired man slouch across the room.

He flashed her an auspicious wink as he took a seat in the empty space next to her father. What was he doing here? Had he heard about Sasuke's attack when he'd woken up? If so that must mean that Sakura had told him about it. Was he here to question her about the incident? Her fingers itched to touch the covered marks but refrained from doing so, unwilling to draw more attention to herself than was necessary. Her father cleared his throat once the Hokage was settled and Hinata turned her attention back to him.

"Hinata…daughter…you will make us stronger."

…..

"Sasuke. It's a really nice day today. You should wake up to see it."

The Uchiha furrowed his brow, unsure of whether he was conscious or not. His head throbbed at the sound of the voice as their words became clearer with each breath he took.

"The maternity ward is filling up quickly." The familiar voice continued to prattle on. "It's only been six months or so but Lady Tsunade says that we need to prepare for a baby boom. She says it's typical after a war. People go off thinking they'll never see each other again and poof there's a baby. It's romantic when you think about it. We are short staffed though, so I'll need to brush up on my labor and delivery techniques. I understand what to do in theory, but I've never delivered a baby before."

Sasuke groaned. Why did this person keep talking so damn much? It was hurting his head.

"Sasuke…Sasuke can you hear me?"

Sasuke tried to speak but his tongue sat uncomfortably in his mouth and his throat felt scratchy from disuse. He swallowed, ignoring the pain, and opened his eyes. His eyes burned but darkness was all that greeted him. Why was it so dark? He blinked and tried to focus but was still seeing nothing but black.

"Sasuke!" the voice gasped.

Slowly but surely, he started to piece together who it belonged to. He didn't have too many options to choose from, but the voice dredged up images of an annoying pink haired girl that had pleaded with him to stay more times than her dignity should have allowed. A person who was almost as determined as Naruto to bring him back to Konoha whether he wanted to exist within it's walls or not.

"Sakura." He said despite how uncomfortable it felt to use his voice.

"Sasuke! Yes!" Sakura exclaimed. There was a slight dip on whatever he was lying on as she placed a hand on his chest. "It's me! I'm here."

With tremendous effort, he turned his head away from her as the smell of cherry blossoms that assaulted his nose. If he wanted to stay awake he had to focus on something other than her overpowering smell. More than anything he needed to see. He needed to gauge an escape plan before the 'soft-being' returned to torment him once more. If Sakura was here that meant that he was back in Konoha and his theory of the 'soft-being' as his punisher was starting to hold a lot more weight. He had to get out of here. He had to kill his tormentor as a parting gift to the village that manipulated him and his family. Sakura could possibly facilitate those desires, but he couldn't focus on formulating a plan. Not when his head was throbbing and the room around him was the same as when he was unconscious. Why the hell was it so dark anyway?

"Light." He rasped out and there was a nervous shuffling next to him.

"Sasuke. I'm right here next to you." Sakura replied and the Uchiha grunted at her simplicity.

Of course, he knew that she was next to him. He could hear her. He could smell her. He could feel the warmth of her hand that rested on the center of his chest. He just needed her to _turn on the damn light_.

"Light." He reiterated but this time with a sharper edge in his voice. Sakura paused for a moment, shifting so that she was away from him once more.

"Sasuke…" she whispered. "The lights are on."

 **…..**

"Neji-nii-san." Hinata whispered into the darkness.

Before her was her cousin's slender tombstone, one among hundreds of other shinobi. She gently ran her fingers across the smooth black stone where his name had been carved. What would Neji have done if he had lived through the war to see this day? Would he have allowed the elders and her father to ask such a thing of her? Of course, if he had lived then so too would many of their other clan members. They wouldn't be forced to look outside of themselves for strength. If Neji had lived she would have been free to marry who she wanted or perhaps she would have married him. She wouldn't have minded that too much if it was for the sake of strengthening her clan. However, this…this was something not even she could do. Why him? Couldn't they have chosen someone else for her? _Anyone_ would be a better option than Uchiha Sasuke.

It made her sick thinking of being forcibly attached to the man for the rest of her life. To become the wife of the last Uchiha, unlike the other girls of her generation she had never fancied herself having such a title. During her academy years, the other little girls had trailed after Sasuke incessantly to the point that she almost felt sorry for him. _Almost_. He was pretty mean to his admirers, so she really couldn't feel too bad for either party….

" _Sasuke-kun will eat lunch with me today!"_

" _No! He's eating lunch with me! I made this bento myself!"_

" _No one wants your nasty bento!"_

 _Hinata sighed as she watched a scrawny robin hop onto the edge of its nest, it's mother watching observantly on a lower branch. Tentatively the bird flapped its brightly colored wings in anticipation for flight._

' _What would it be like to be a bird?' Hinata thought to herself as she watched the mother bird hop up to her child and begin to preen its feathers. 'To fly away at any time…that would be nice wouldn't it?'_

 _When the mother bird finished her correction of the young robin's wings, it hopped away to its previous branch and continued to watch. The young robin flapped its wings again and Hinata's eyes widened as the red bird took a straight nose dive downward out of the vantage point of her window. The Hyuuga pouted and turned her eyes back to her notebook._

' _Maybe being a bird isn't all that great.'_

 _With a frown, she returned to etching her initials into a blank page on her notebook. Well…not her actual initials, just the one she aspired to have one day._ _ **U.H.**_ _She wanted to write_ _ **Uzumaki Hinata**_ _but it just wasn't safe to do so. This notebook might be hers but what if someone else discovered it? What if her baby sister or older cousin found it? Hinata shuddered at the thought of Neji finding her notebook with Uzumaki written all over it. He'd probably tell her father and she'd be punished for not focusing on her studies the way that she should._

" _Ah! Sasuke!" one of her classmates screeched as the academy classroom door slid open._

 _Hinata lazily looked up from drawing a heart around one of the initials to see the Uchiha. Almost immediately the girls in the class swamped him with their own personally handmade bentos and unintelligible chattering for whose he should eat. Instead of giving the girls a straight answer, he turned his nose up at all of them and walked to the back of the class to sit in a dark corner. One brave brunette scurried behind him and tried to place her bento on his desk but he pushed it off with his bookbag. The bento fell with a loud clatter and Hinata felt her upper lip curl in distaste at the wasted food on the floor._

' _Meanie.' She thought and returned to drawing hearts around her imaginary initials. 'I bet Naruto-kun would never do something like that.'_

 _Hinata glanced down at her own bag, a feeling of shame bubbling up once more since she had more than one lunch sitting in the bottom of it. She was positive that Naruto wouldn't reject a lunch she made but…she just didn't have the confidence to give it to him. Inwardly she groaned and laid her head on her desk. One day…one day she'd finally give him a bento…_

…Hinata sighed as she recalled the innocent memory and placed a bouquet of white lilies on Neji's grave, admiring the way the pale petals looked with the full moon shining down upon them.

"I knew I'd find you here." A friendly voice chuckled behind her.

Hinata jumped slightly in surprise and the owner of the voice laughed harder. His blue eyes were scrunched up as he did so, doubling over at the waist in amusement. The Hyuuga pouted a bit at Naruto laughing at her but couldn't help but blush at the sound of it. As odd as it was, it was comforting to hear his laugh in the middle of the dark graveyard.

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you Hina-chan." Naruto said, trying and failing to stifle his laughter. "You have such a cute surprised face though!"

At that, Hinata's entire face turned so red she was positive that she was glowing in the dark. Naruto didn't seem to notice the effect his words had as he shoved his hands into his pockets and finally composed himself enough to speak properly.

"I've been looking for you." He said, blue eyes piercing straight through her.

"Me?" Hinata replied and he nodded.

"Sakura said that you would be coming to the hospital tomorrow and well, I guess I could wait till then but I kinda couldn't ya know? Like when you have to say something really really important you can't just wait. Pervy-sage always said that it was best that when you need to say things you should get it off your chest!"

Hinata smiled at the rambling shinobi before her. As silly as he was, that was the quality she valued the most in him. He was so free in ways that she could never hope to be. Yet she wanted to be. She wanted to be like him. To be stronger. To be happy…with him. Her heart skipped a beat painfully as she was reminded of the morning's events and the life she'd always daydreamed about began to slip through her fingers.

"I'm going on a tangent huh?" Naruto chuckled, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Sakura says that I should work on getting to the point. Well, she doesn't really say that more like yells it. Anyway, I came here to thank you."

"To…thank me?" Hinata asked, blinking in surprise. What could he possibly be thanking her for? Naruto smiled broadly and took a couple of steps closer to her to grab both of her hands.

"Yea." He said softly. "Sasuke is doing really well. Sakura says that he's improving. I think he even heard us on my last visit two days ago because his eyelid twitched when I called him a bastard."

'Sasuke.' Hinata thought and she tried to swallow but the ghost of his fingers around her neck kept her from doing so.

"I know that you have lots of other things you have to do but thanks to you Sasuke is going to recover. I wish we had asked for your help sooner because then we wouldn't have had to lie so much."

Hinata raised a curious eyebrow at the blonde but his smile didn't falter.

"Don't worry. It was just to keep the council from killing him sooner. They wouldn't have let Sakura keep working on him for so long if they knew he was a lost cause. But he's not! He's going to be fine so…thank you. We will have to rely on you for a bit longer and I know Sakura and I are asking a lot of you but thank you."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said softly, squeezing his hands as she took a step closer. "Uchiha-san means a lot to you doesn't he?"

"Yea." Naruto chuckled. "He's a bastard but he's our bastard ya know?"

Hinata smiled at his words although it didn't quite meet her eyes. Naruto didn't realize that he shouldn't thank her just yet. She only had twenty-four hours to give the elders and the Hokage an answer to their proposition. If she were to reject the marriage proposal, the offer would pass on to her little sister Hanabi. That was something Hinata just couldn't allow to happen. She would kill Sasuke herself before she allowed her sister to be married to him. Caught between a rock and a hard place it appeared as though her answer had already been decided for her. Hinata took a step towards Naruto and boldly stood on her toes.

"H-Hina-chan-" he stammered out but was silenced by her lips on his.

His lips were not how she'd imagined. They were softer, warmer…safer than even her vivid imagination was capable of creating. He didn't kiss her back but she didn't need him to. It was just enough to know that her first kiss belonged to him. A small selfish desire to comfort herself as she set forth down a path that would never allow her to indulge in such things again. As she lowered herself from her toes she reluctantly let go of his hands and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Uchiha-san is…important to you." She said softly, avoiding the utterly confused look on Naruto's face. "I'll do my best."

Without waiting for him to respond, Hinata turned away and paused only a moment to slide her hand over the top of Neji's cold tombstone. The burning feeling behind her eyes made her pick up her pace in order to focus on anything but that. She couldn't cry. She couldn't allow her selfish heart to focus on what she was sacrificing because in a way she was doing what she'd always wanted. She wanted to make her clan stronger. She wanted to protect the village. More than anything she wanted Naruto to be happy.

If that meant becoming an Uchiha…so be it.

 **To be continued…** _ **Becoming Acquainted**_


	3. Becoming Acquainted

**CCNote : 100+ reviews and only 2 chapters? You guys are awesome. Here's a hella early update just for you! This chapter will probably cause many questions to spring up but trust me everything will be answered in one way or another.**

 **In other news, entrance exams have been graded and my plans for spring break have been finalized. I've now got nothing but oodles of time on my hands so as long as my inspiration holds out I'll update frequently. Fingers crossed. Please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **III. Becoming Acquainted**

"Sign here please."

Hinata nodded, tentatively taking the pen that the Hokage held out to her. Unfurled on his desk was her- _their_ \- engagement contract. The yellowed, cracked paper was draped over the desk and fell to the floor below, every inch of it covered in swooping black script. She had barely been able to read its contents due to the nauseous feeling of seeing her name written next Sasuke's but she'd pushed through the feeling and focused on what needed to be done. With a shaky breath, she shoved the last of her trepidation aside and pressed the tip of the pen on the line that required her signature.

"Are you sure about this Hinata-san?" the Hokage asked, stilling her hand before she signed her name.

Hinata stared blankly at the larger, more calloused hand that covered her own. Was she sure? No. Did she have a choice? Absolutely not. Choosing between her clan and her own selfish desires was not something she could justify. Not when everyone was working so hard to rebuild. Not when countless people had sacrificed themselves just so that she and so many others still had the opportunity to breathe…

… _.The dying summer cicadas chirped loudly into the night, belting out their last notes in desperate hopes to find a mate prior to the first frost. Hinata sat before her father with her back straight and knees delicately tucked underneath her. A tray of tea was set between them but it had long since grown cold._

" _Do you fully understand what this will mean?" her father asked._

 _Hinata nodded her head once. She knew exactly what she was getting into…what would be expected of her. To start an entirely new line of Uchiha, loyal to the Hyuuga and allies to Konoha. It felt like an impossible task but she would do as she'd always done. She would do her best._

" _If you waver in any way. If you are unhappy with this proposal, Hanabi is next in line to take your place. She will be briefed when she returns from her mission." He father said flatly. Hinata felt her fingers curl unconsciously into fists and she lifted her head to meet her father's eye. He stared directly back at her, his all-knowing eyes seemingly reading her thoughts. "You could be the wife of a Hokage. With time you'd be able to lead the clan."_

 _His words were tempting. She could still feel Naruto's lips on her own but she shook her head._

" _Hanabi will be the best leader the Hyuuga have ever known."_

 _Her father's lips twitched into an almost smile and his gaze broke from her own._

" _Before the massacre, we'd been in talks to bridge the gap between our clans." Her father said as he pulled a tightly bound scroll out of the sleeve of his crème yukata._

 _He held out the yellowed scroll over the neglected tea tray and Hinata tried to steady her nervous fingers as she took it. When she opened the scroll, the weathered parchment felt fragile between her fingers but the handwriting she saw was familiar. The swooping black script was a work of art in and of itself and could have only been accomplished by the hand of her father. However, there were a multitude of corrections done by handwriting that was unfamiliar to her. She took a deep breath and read the contents aloud._

" _By order of the Hyuuga clan and under the good faith of the Uchiha, we hereby enact an alliance between us. Per the day the heiress of the Hyuuga becomes of age she will be wed to the heir of the Uchiha in hopes of a strong and prosperous bond between these two ancient and noble lines. The bride's price, to be paid in full upon the announcement of the consummate of the first child created by this union, will be set at…"_

 _Hinata set the scroll to her side, unwilling to see how much her womb had been worth before she'd even had her first moon cycle._

" _You were slated to marry Itachi unless he died or were imprisoned. If either case had occurred it was agreed that you would go on to Fugaku's second son. If something had happened to you, Hanabi would have gone to Itachi unless the prior disqualifications had been met." Her father said, reaching for the scroll she'd put down and tucking it back into his yukata's sleeve._

" _Father…" she started, her heart pounding erratically in her chest as she began to piece things together. "Why didn't you say anything about this before now?"_

 _Hinata lifted her eyes to stare at her father intently but he didn't meet her gaze. He didn't have to. She already knew the answer to her question. In some form or another, her clan had known about the coup. As an insurance policy they'd aligned themselves with the Uchiha in case they proved to be successful. She had been a bargaining chip and she hadn't even known it. The Uchiha's massacre had provided her clan with an excuse to quietly back into the shadows and pretend as if they'd known nothing, as if their collusion were nothing more than the imaginations of a conspiracy theorist. If her clan wasn't in such dire straits they would have been more than happy to keep such an agreement under wraps. Except now, with their number decimated and their finances dangerously dwindling, it suited their interests to continue…_

….It was a…less than ideal arrangement but she understood it's necessity. Her own happiness, her own fulfillment, all of it paled in comparison to the current needs of her clan. The gray-haired Hokage stared her down for a moment more before he slid his hand away from her, understanding fully her unwavering resolve to go through with the proposal.

"Sasuke is not redeemable. He will pay for his crimes." The Hokage said solemnly as she signed her name on the weathered marriage contract. "However, he can change. No one is completely anchored by their past."

Hinata nodded halfheartedly as she placed her thumb in her mouth and bit down. There was a sharp initial stab of pain as blood pooled to the surface and when enough was gathered she pressed the digit to the paper. Kakashi handed her a handkerchief when she was finished to wipe the blood away and waved a hand over the scroll.

"Perhaps this will give Sasuke the chance to see that."

 **…..**

Hinata sighed as she made her way down to the lower levels of the Leaf Hospital, the Hokage's words still swirling in her mind. Was it possible for someone like Sasuke to change? She liked to think that there was good in everyone. However, when she recalled the look in his dichromatic eyes as he'd choked her, she'd seen nothing but darkness.

Perhaps it was her own bias clouding her judgment…Naruto seemed to see Sasuke as a person worth saving. Sakura continued to love him unconditionally and the Hokage believed that he could change. With such powerful people in his corner, the least she could do was have faith in him. After all, he was to be her husband soon. A chill ran down her spine as she reached the door that led to Sasuke's room. The word husband tasted sour on her tongue.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed on the heavy basement door to open it and her nose was immediately assaulted by the achingly familiar smell of blood. Tensing up for a fight, she stepped fully into the dark, dank space and was shocked to find it trashed. The machines that had previously been crowded around the Uchiha's hospital bed were now toppled over and beeping erratically. The sheets of his bed were ripped and partially braided as though someone had been trying to create a makeshift rope and had given up halfway through. Immediately opposite of the door she entered was a shirtless Sasuke, slumped over and unmoving. How the hell had he gotten out of the bed? Who had uncuffed him and what made him destroy the room like this? Against her better judgment, she crossed the room to kneel in front of the Uchiha noting with a strange mix of relief and disappointment that he was still breathing normally.

"It's _you_." He spat as she reached out to touch him.

Hinata stood up and took a cautious step away from him with her Byakugan activated. She would not be caught off guard by this man again. With a labored grunt, he leaned forward but only found himself landing face first onto the hard concrete floor. Seeing him a weak, crumpled mess of limbs did not garner any sympathy within her for the man but she did deactivate her eyes. Judging by the severely inflamed points in his chakra system he was not a serious threat to her at the moment. She narrowed her eyes at him as she watched the man continue to try to push himself up but to no avail. He was determined, she'd give him that.

With a sigh, she surveyed the room to gauge what exactly had transpired which wasn't too hard to figure out. She _had_ been apart of the best tracking team in Konoha before she'd taken up her work in the hospital. If there was one thing she'd learned on a three-man squad like that it was how to gather evidence. She didn't need to rely too heavily on those skills though as it was clear upon a second sweep of the room that he'd tried to escape. The torn sheets on the bed indicated that he thought there was a chance to get through a window. Halfway through he probably realized that the lack of airflow and staleness of the atmosphere meant there were no exterior windows for him to take advantage of. The machines being toppled were probably just victims of the man's frustration at his first plan being a bust. Finally, the fact that he was an immobile heap opposite the door had to mean that he had simply tried to walk out.

'This just makes my job harder.' Hinata mentally sighed.

The seals on his door were some of the strongest Konoha had ever implemented. Even coming near the threshold was sure to blow the target back and paralyze them from the neck down for at least a few hours. Its purpose wasn't solely to keep Sasuke a prisoner, although that was very much what he was. It was also to protect him. There were many people he'd ripped from their families. Countless villagers that wanted his head on a spike.

"Fuck!" he hissed, interrupting her thoughts. Droplets of blood sprayed onto the floor as he coughed and seeped into the cement.

Silently Hinata approached the Uchiha again and rolled him over onto his back. He grimaced at her proximity, wrinkling his nose and turning his head away from her like he'd been subjected to something foul. Self-consciously she pulled the collar of her shirt up to her nose and sniffed. All she could smell was her usual lavender detergent that the branch members used to wash her clothes.

"Get away from me." He growled but Hinata didn't listen to him.

Instead, she positioned herself behind his head and kneeled down to hook her arms underneath his armpits. Slowly she dragged his body across the basement floor until she made it to his hospital bed. She grunted as she clumsily lifted his body onto the surface, nearly dropping him twice but somehow managing to successfully get him back to where he belonged. If only she had Sakura's abnormal strength it wouldn't have been such an arduous task.

She sighed as she looked around the room for the handcuffs but upon finding none she was once again reminded of her fellow medic. Sasuke had probably convinced her he didn't need to be restrained and she'd eaten his lie willingly. Without a better option, she was forced to use the tattered sheets to tie him down to the bed. Luckily he was paralyzed so it was easy to tie up his limp limbs as best as she could. It wasn't much but it would have to do for now until she could leave to get better restraints.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the vase of purple flowers had been knocked over, now a shattered wet mess on the floor. For some reason seeing the attempt that Sakura had made to make the basement seem like less of a prison made her angry. She had _tried_. For all of her faults, for all of her inexplicable hope, the woman had tried. To see Sasuke not think twice about destroying her efforts made her blood boil and reminded her of all of the lives he'd taken without a second thought. Of all the homemade bentos he'd destroyed.

"You shouldn't break things." She mumbled under her breath.

"Ah." Sasuke sighed. "So it _does_ speak."

Hinata snapped her mouth shut at the sound of his voice but her anger did not dissipate. She swallowed it instead and went to work picking up the largest shards of broken glass. She didn't want Sakura to see the mess Sasuke had made of her attempt and inwardly she started formulating an excuse to tell her coworker when she inevitably asked why the vase was missing. She then placed the broken pieces of glass on the bedside table to take them with her once her visit was over before turning back to the Uchiha.

He was staring so intently at the ceiling that it made her look up as well. Yet…there was nothing up there. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls of the room were all a bland slate grey. There were no tiles to count or cracks to follow. It was a smooth, impenetrable surface but Sasuke stared at it like there was a secret written upon it that only he could see. Hinata shook her head, feeling silly that she'd even entertained the fact that the Uchiha could be insightful. She then moved closer to his bedside and proceeded to do her usual routine of unblocking his chakra.

The damage to his system was extensive and she couldn't unblock everything all at once. The blockage had built up within his system without a release for so long that nearly all of his key points had been caked over. Like plaque, she had to chip away at the layers of build up. She could only do a little at a time though or she'd override his system and probably induce a heart attack. Just as she activated her Byakugan, Sasuke tore his eyes away from the ceiling to stare pointedly at a spot just beyond her shoulder. Furrowing her brow she waved a hand in front of his face and didn't even seem to notice.

'He can't see me.' She thought, biting her lower lip at the realization.

"I will get out of here." He said simply, unaware of the wheels spinning in the Hyuuga's head. "When I do, I'll be sure to kill you on my way out."

Hinata frowned as she placed a light hand on his lower abdomen and carefully moved upward towards his heart, sending tiny sparks of chakra through her fingers as she did so. As she focused on her work, the pain of having his pathways reopened broke through his paralysis and his back inadvertently arched into her touch. His teeth ground together as he turned his head away from her and squeezed his eyes shut. Despite being in such a vulnerable state he did not cry out.

 **….**

"C'mon bastard! It's not so bad." Naruto prodded, forcefully poking a plastic spoon against his lips.

Sasuke turned his head away from offering. He wanted nothing to do with whatever gruel his former teammates were trying to shove down his throat. He'd rather continue getting his nutrients intravenously than to have to swallow a mouthful of _that_. He didn't need his eyes to know that it was disgusting. The oddly pungent smell alone made bile rise to the back of his throat and the squishy sound it made when Naruto stirred it around with a spoon almost made the vomit come out.

"Sakura-chan made this herself. Right Sakura-chan?" Naruto said and Sasuke could feel the left side of his bed shift as another person sat on it.

Why did they have to sit so close to him? Why did they have to impeded upon his already diminished freedom with more forced physical interaction?

"I noticed that you haven't been eating the usual hospital food, which I will admit is pretty bland. So I made something for you this morning." Sakura chirped proudly. "It's got all kinds of good stuff in it to help you recover. You'll be better in no time."

"See! She worked really hard so you have to at least try it."

"No." Sasuke said firmly and Naruto sucked his teeth in disagreement.

"Don't be like that!" the blonde chided. "Just watch! I'll eat it and then you'll be jealous."

Sasuke's left eye twitched in irritation at the mention of 'watching'. He couldn't _watch_ anything. There was only the sound of their annoying voices piercing through the darkness and he wanted nothing more than for them to leave him alone. If he was a prisoner he didn't need to also be subjected to their feeble antics of pretending to be a team, of pretending like he was one of them.

"Ack!" Naruto chocked, interrupting the Uchiha's train of thought. "Oh my god Sakura! What the hell is _in_ that?!"

"Let's see… I just blended together some beet powder, oats, bananas, apples, power pills, fiber pills, yellow tail-"

"You can't put all of that stuff in there. What are you trying to do kill him again?"

"You're just used to eating nothing but ramen and trash. You wouldn't know good food if it smacked you in the face."

"This is not good food!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Have you tried it?"

"No, because I needed to make sure Sasuke had enough to eat. Now let me feed him if you're not gonna do it."

"No! This food is terrible!"

"Naruto!"

Sasuke reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose with his shackled hands. The chains rattled with every movement and were a constant reminder of his status as a prisoner. Sakura and Naruto tried to make it seem like he wasn't but after he'd trashed the room he was under increased surveillance. The metal around his wrists were no longer simple cuffs but heavy lead shackles. His feet were left free but it wasn't like he could go anywhere, not with the silent presence that seemed to have taken up a new residence in the corner of his room.

At first, he thought that he was being paranoid about someone watching him when they had arrived in the middle of the night. When he heard Sakura greet the presence the following morning it immediately confirmed his paranoia and the notion that he'd been placed under Anbu 'protection'. The Anbu guard never spoke to him, at times it felt as though they never breathed, but Sasuke knew that they were there. The Uchiha frowned to himself. A constant Anbu guard by his bedside was going to make it harder to escape. Not impossible but definitely harder.

"Just let him try it Naruto. Sasuke will probably like it." Sakura insisted and the bed shifted as she reached over him.

"It's going to kill him."

"No, it won't!"

"Yes it-" Naruto started but the sound of the heavy basement door opening interrupted him. "Oi Hina-chan!"

'Great.' Sasuke mentally groaned. 'Another person to join in on the party- wait…'

As the newcomer approached his bed the smell of lavender and vanilla wafted over with them and his body became tense. Goosebumps sprang up like wildfire and his breath hitched in anticipation from being conditioned to know what would happen next.

The 'soft-being' had returned…

"Good morning Hinata!" Sakura said in a voice that had lost all of its previous anger at Naruto for insulting her cooking. "We were just trying to get Sasuke to eat something."

…and it had a name.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-san. Good morning." A soft voice said and Sasuke's fingers twitched at the sound of it.

If his tormentor had returned that meant he was in for what felt like hours of excruciating pain. The last thing he wanted was Sakura and Naruto hovering over him as it happened. Or perhaps they already knew of his tormentor's tactics and approved of them. Perhaps they were laughing at him behind his back. In either case, he wanted them gone.

"Leave." Sasuke said flatly and the two occupants on his bed jumped slightly in surprise.

"Sasuke you need to eat something." Sakura insisted but Sasuke shook his head.

"Leave."

"Sasuke-"

"Get _out_!" he said, raising his voice to a level that he didn't want to but Sakura wasn't going to listen to him otherwise.

The left side of his bed dipped and rose as he assumed Sakura had gotten off of it. The sound of the metal basement door closing confirmed her departure.

"Sasuke you can't just yell at Sakura like that." Naruto admonished, his voice taking on a dangerous tone as he slipped off the bed. "She's only trying to help. If you do it again, I won't let it slide."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, ignoring Naruto's idle threat.

There wouldn't _be_ a next time. Not if he could help it. He'd be dead or have escaped long before Naruto would be able to make good on that threat. The basement door closed for a second time but he knew that he wasn't alone. The Anbu guard still stood somewhere in his room and he could still smell the 'soft-be-' _Hinata_.

"Lay down please." The one he now knew to be named Hinata said as she approached the left side of his bed. "Or it will be more uncomfortable."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the sound of her voice which was irritatingly soft just like the rest of her. Slowly he lowered himself onto the bed so that he was lying flat on his back, finding that it was better to just comply so that he could get the torture over with. He could feel her hands hovering over his belly button but she stopped just short of actually touching.

"Get it over with dammit." He growled and she retracted her hands entirely.

"I'm only trying to help you." She said which caused Sasuke's upper lip to curl.

"Finish my punishment like a good little kunoichi and leave."

"It…it's not a punishment."

Sasuke said nothing in response but the woman moved away from the side of his bed. A small hand grabbed his right foot and it began to tingle. He tried to jerk his foot back but found his entire leg immobilized.

"What the hell did you do?" he hissed.

"Did that hurt?"

Sasuke scoffed. Of course, it hadn't hurt but it was bothersome that he couldn't feel his right leg.

"That should have hurt you." Hinata said. "Your chakra is blocked. You've been in a coma since the final battle and that was over six months ago."

Slowly she came back to his bedside and placed a soft hand on his lower abdomen as she always did and sharp sparks of electricity shot through her fingers.

"You can't properly feel anything the way you're supposed to. Yesterday…yesterday I noticed that you can't see me either. Sakura believed that unblocking your chakra was the problem and to an extent she was correct. It will take time before you are back to how you were before."

Sasuke grunted and turned his head to the side but said nothing as he listened to her explanation. He'd been wrong in his assumption that she was there to punish him but it didn't make the procedure hurt any less. If anything it made him even more frustrated. What had he done to leave himself open to the mercy of Konoha? Why were there such huge gaps in his memory? He wanted to ask this Hinata those questions and more but it was all he could do to not scream out in pain. When she finally finished, Sasuke marveled at the fact that he was still able to remain conscious although he was positive that wouldn't last for long.

"I'll be leaving now." She said. "Um…Naruto-kun and Sakura-san care about you very much. Please don't yell at them."

"Just like how I shouldn't break things." He grunted through clenched teeth as his body was still feeling the pain of her work. " _Hinata_ …I don't need your unsolicited advice."

The woman said nothing to him as she turned away from his bed and by the time the basement door closed he was already slipping into unconsciousness. This time however her sickening smell still lingered around him like the fire she'd injected into his veins.

 **….**

Naruto frowned as he lifted the worn red flap to Ichiraku's and stepped into the warmth of the brightly lit shop. Teuchi nodded his head stiffly with his arrival and jerked his thumb over at the sole slumped over figure at the far corner of the bar. Empty sake bottles were scattered all around them and a still full bowl of ramen had been pushed to the side.

"How much?" Naruto sighed and dug into his pocket for his frog wallet. He leered at the sake bottles as he felt the weight of his wallet wasn't quite up to snuff. He didn't even have to open to know that he didn't have enough to cover the tab.

"Don't worry about it." Teuchi said with a dismissive wave of his hand and a smile. "Just make sure she gets home safe."

Naruto brightened slightly at the good graces of the old man and gave him a short salute. He then made his way over to the lonely patron and placed a hand on their shoulder.

"Sakura." He said softly and the medic groaned awake.

She turned her head in his direction and blinked up at him with puffy, red-rimmed eyes. Naruto pressed his lips together in a tight line as he smelled the sake on her breath. Was she trying to give her mentor a run for her money? There was no way he was going to be able to bring her home to her parents like this. With a solemn shake of his head, he unzipped his jacket and threw it over her shoulders, she should know better than to be out so late without one. _He_ was supposed to be the irresponsible and forgetful one, not her.

"Na…ru…to." She slurred and leaned towards him. "What are you-you-you doing here?"

"I'm taking you home." He said and Sakura slowly shook her head.

"No. No. No. No. I don't wanna go home."

Drunkenly she reached for a half-empty sake bottle and tried to drink it but Naruto snatched it away from her. The last thing she needed was more alcohol. Bringing the bottle to his own lips, he winced as soon as the burning liquid hit his tongue but finished it off quickly.

"Hey!" Sakura protested. "That-that was mine."

"And now it's gone." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he placed the empty bottle on the bar. "Let's go. If you don't want to go home, I'll take you to Ino."

He pulled on her upper arm to get her off of the stool but she only fell limply onto his chest.

"Noooooooo." Sakura whined although her voice was slightly muffled. "No Ino! Sai will be there."

Naruto sighed as he steadied Sakura on her feet and turned his back to her. Why would Sai be at Ino's house?

"Then I'll take you to Tenten." He said as he lowered himself in front of her and held his arms out behind him.

Gingerly she got onto his back and let out a muffled squeak when he stood up.

"Ten-ten has mission-mission."

Slowly he walked out of Ichiraku's but not without a quick nod to Teuchi n his way out. Once outside, the unseasonably cold night air hit him hard in the face and he adjusted Sakura on his back. If she refused to go home, Ino was 'unavailable', and Tenten was on a mission where else could he take her? The only other woman he knew would take good care of Sakura was Hinata but he couldn't ask her to do that. They were already imposing on her enough as it was and after last night at the graveyard, it didn't feel right asking her for anything else.

 _Uchiha-san is…important to you. I'll try my best._

Her words that night had been cryptic. Her actions lesson so. He knew that she loved him and despite his lack of a response to her initial confession he knew that she still did. Sakura had berated him on more than one occasion for being dense about Hinata's feelings but he had no way to deal with them. What did it mean to be loved by someone else? To be loved so much that they would be willing to give their life up for you on more than one occasion?

He would lay his life on the line for any of his comrades in a heartbeat. There was no question that he would protect Konoha with his last breath if he had to but what he felt for his people and what Hinata felt for him were two very different things. She wanted something else from him. She wanted something _more._ Right now, as selfish as it was, he wasn't ready to give that to her. He had a nation to rebuild and people that relied on him. He had Sasuke to worry about and Sakura to look after.

Perhaps one day, in the not so distant future, he'd be able to reciprocate the heiress' feelings. Maybe when reconstruction died down a bit and missions weren't so pressing, he'd ask her out on a date. A real date, probably to Ichiraku's. He'd finally figure out how he felt about her and maybe even kiss her properly this time. Until then he would just take Sakura to his house and pray the medic didn't kill him in the morning when she sobered up. Naruto grunted as he adjusted the woman slipping off of his back as he walked and she let out a groan.

"Narutoooo you idiot." She mumbled into the crook of his neck. "Don't move so much. You make…you make my stomach feel funny."

"You deserve it." Naruto chuckled as he jostled her again. She weakly punched the top of his head with her fist in frustration.

"Stop being stupid."

Naruto laughed but stopped messing with her. It wouldn't be fun if she threw up on him which _had_ happened before. He preferred not to have a repeat performance. It didn't take him long though to reach his apartment on the outskirts of the village. It wasn't the same one he'd grown up alone in but it was pretty close. It was a tiny one-bedroom apartment that he was sure no one would have expected a shinobi such as himself to stay. The pipes constantly leaked and there always seemed to be a constant draft blowing through the cracks in the cinderblock walls.

He knew that he could move into something better, in fact, Sakura had urged him on more than one occasion to do so but he'd refused. It didn't seem right to move into something better when there were still displaced villager sleeping in shelters if they were lucky or on the streets if they weren't. Until they got the village back to its former glory he was more than satisfied with remaining put. Carefully he kicked off his shoes and stepped over the empty instant ramen cups and piles of clothes he had on the floor to make it over to his bedroom. Sakura groaned a bit in protest when he set her down on her feet but somehow she was able to keep herself standing.

"This place is a mess." She mumbled as she lazily kicked an empty milk carton.

"Yea, yea." Naruto sighed and started digging around in the random piles of clothes in his room for something Sakura could wear.

He was able to find a black t-shirt that smelled clean enough and tossed it over to her.

"Is this clean?" she asked as she was already starting to shrug his jacket off of her shoulders.

"As clean as it gets."

Sakura let out an exasperated sigh but didn't question him further. With a smirk, Naruto turned his back to her to give her privacy to undress and he began looking through the piles once more to find something for himself. He was able to quickly find a pair of orange pajama bottoms that smelled cleanish which he promptly put on but was left bereft of a clean shirt to go with it. With a sigh, he pulled his dirty shirt up over his head and started to gather some of his clothes off of the floor. He'd have to do laundry tonight if he was going to have anything clean to wear in the morning.

"Naruto." Sakura whined as she took the liberty of shuffling over to his bed on her own.

She wasn't very good a navigating in her current state though and ended up belly flopping on top of it. Thankfully she'd kept her usual black shorts on or he would have gotten an eyeful. Naruto shook his head at his drunk teammate and dropped the pile of clothes he'd been gathering onto the floor.

"Why does the room keep spinning?"

"Because Kami is punishing you." He replied sarcastically as he walked over to the bed and pulled on the corner of the comforter. "Lift up."

Sakura did as he instructed and was able to pull the comforter out from under her.

"Naruto." She whispered as he draped the comforter over her body. "I'm afraid of him."

Naruto paused for a moment, unsure of who she was talking about but quickly recalled the events of that morning in the hospital. Of how Sasuke had yelled at her and his face at twisted with an anger Sakura was unused to seeing. He sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed and she curled up next to him, bringing the comforter up to her chin.

"You know he didn't mean to yell like that…or maybe he did but he'll temper out soon." Naruto said but Sakura shook her head.

"I…I thought I loved him." She mumbled. "He's back and I'm so happy that he is. I can see him and I can touch him but I can't shake this feeling. Is it… is it possible to love someone you're afraid of?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. Was it possible? He wasn't quite sure. What he _was_ sure of was the fact that Sakura was pretty drunk and needed to get some rest. In the morning she'd be right back to her usual bossy self, stomping around his apartment and making a million and one demands. He smiled to himself at the image and reached out a hand to brush pink stands of hair off of her forehead. The light purple diamond in the middle of it softly glowed from the moonlight that filtered through his blinds.

"Go to sleep Sakura-chan." He said softly.

Sakura started to close her eyes but when he tried to retract his hand, they popped back open. Slender fingers wrapped around his wrist and tugged.

"Naruto…don't leave me." She whispered but started to pout when he gently pulled his wrist out of her grasp.

Something inside of him twisted uncomfortably at that expression and he couldn't allow her to look so disappointed. Especially not if he could help it.

"Move over ya big baby." Naruto teased, all thoughts of doing laundry abandoned, and Sakura smiled up at him with glassy green eyes.

She moved over as much as she could in his small bed which was really only meant to hold one person. Naruto then lifted the comforter and slid in next to her, faintly noting how warm it was with another body next to him. He let out a grunt as Sakura wiggled closer to him and nestled herself just underneath his chin, her slightly cold nose pressing against his collarbone.

"You smell like outside." She mumbled and Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

 **To be continued…..** _ **Becoming Hated**_


	4. Becoming Hated

**CCNote:** **A small detail about Hanabi has been changed due to a problem pointed out by some awesome readers. You can either read the change or don't. It doesn't impact the overall direction of the story.**

 **IV**

 **Becoming Hated**

 _Sasuke furrowed his brow as he swam in the never-ending sea of darkness that surrounded him. His body was weightless against the black tide, the sight inextricably similar to when he was awake. The only thing different is that the sole company he possessed was the sound of his own voice and even that had grown to be tiresome. It was remarkable how easily one can grow tired of themselves. He sighed, allowing an invisible force to stretch him. Bit by bit he tried to focus on just feeling. It was the only way to keep himself sane when he was locked inside of his own mind._

 _Every cell within his unconscious mind vibrated simultaneously and allowed him to feel in ways that he couldn't when he was awake. When he was awake the darkness was the same, but his body wasn't his own. It was awkward and clumsy and quite frankly useless. What the hell was Konoha keeping him alive for? He'd rather just die than remain as inept as he currently was. He was worthless to them without the use of his eyes anyway. He groaned as his body began to retract back into itself and the tide around him slowed to a stop._

 _Gradually the darkness receded into gradients of gray. It was microscopic at first but slowly the black began to fall away until he was surrounded by nothing but a soft yellow light above him. He blinked, unsure if what he was seeing was real or not. It felt real, almost as though he'd blinked up at this same light for years and yet…it felt wrong. Beneath him, the tide he'd been floating on had become something solid and soft. His fingers gripped what felt like sheets beneath him._

 _He tried to wiggle his toes which were usually numb, but they responded well to the attempt. He sat up, alarmed that he was able to move so freely and was shocked by his own body. He stared down at hands that were pink and smooth and innocent. It was as if they'd never held a kunai against a pleading man's throat. Startled, he looked down at his legs that were tangled up in a dark blue sheet and was surprised to find them free from the scars he knew should be there._

" _Sasuke." A soft voice called out and his eyes shot up from marveling at his limbs to the figure in the doorway. "It's about time you woke up sleepy head."_

 _The figure stood there serenely with a bright smile on her face as she dried her hands on the edge of her tan-colored apron. Her black hair, hair he knew to be identical to his own, fell down her back and swayed with even the smallest of movements on her part. His breath caught when her eyes opened and the black eyes of the Uchiha clan stared back at him._

' _Mother.' He thought, his breath catching in his throat and nearly causing him to choke._

 _His mother noticed his discomfort and made her way across the room until she came to sit next to him on the edge of his bed. Warmth radiated from her as she leaned closer with a pensive look in her eyes and placed a gentle hand on her forehead. That smell of lavender and vanilla enveloped his senses, causing goosebumps to cover his skin._

" _Sasuke are you okay? Are you feeling sick today?" She said, bringing her hand down from his forehead to cup his cheek._

 _He opened his mouth to reply to her but when no sound came out her gentle expression changed to one of genuine worry and concern. She leaned closer and with her the smell grew stronger._

" _Sasuke?"_

"Sasuke-"

As if he'd emerged from underwater to the point of near drowning, Sasuke took a deep breath and reopened his eyes. This time, however, the darkness had returned and his body was once more a stranger to him. The smell however remained and it tied his stomach in knots. Flashes of his mother alive were quickly replaced by her face-down in a thick puddle of her own blood. Unable to control himself, he leaned over to what he hoped was the side of his hospital bed and allowed the sharp tang of vomit to be released from his body. The smell of it was so foul that it encouraged even more of his stomach's contents to make their way up to the surface.

"I knew this would happen." A soft voice sighed. "Sakura shouldn't have lowered the dosage of your medicine."

The Uchiha groaned as the last of the bile was gone. His throat burned and his stomach continued to churn, threating a resurgence of what he didn't know. There was nothing left for him to give up. He groaned at the putrid smell and clumsily wiped his mouth and chin with the back of his hand. Gentle hands pressed against his shoulders back against the bed and his body flinched at her touch.

"Uchiha-san. It's just me." She said but that did nothing to get him to relax.

He knew exactly who she was. _Hinata._ His tormentor and bane of his current, pitiful existence. As he listened to the sound of her cleaning up the mess he'd made a burning began to settle in the pit of his stomach. He'd rather be alone with his own irritating thoughts than to be in this woman's presence. Her silent treatment, which had only just briefly been broken, bothered him. The way she touched him as if he were about to explode, bothered him. The way she _fucking breathed_ , bothered him. What bothered him the most though was the fact that he was nothing more than puttie, utterly and pathetically defenseless beneath her fingertips as she made his body burn.

There was no other way to describe the feeling he had towards her except for hate. His desire to kill her had not yet ebbed even though she claimed that she was helping him. He grimaced, a small groan of displeasure escaping his lips as he felt cold fingertips press against his heart before quickly being retracted.

"We will try again tomorrow." She said and with that, she was gone.

However, her scent still lingered and with each second that slipped by, unwanted memories of a dead woman began to resurface.

…..

"That will be two-thousand ryo dear." The elderly woman said, holding out a wrinkled hand to the Hyuuga heiress for payment.

Hinata nodded as she pulled out her wallet and handed the woman the exact amount she'd requested without a moment of hesitation. Prices for everything, even the meager amount of fruits and vegetables she'd just bought, had skyrocketed in the aftermath of the war. Fields had been abandoned and livestock neglected during the fighting. When the dust had settled there weren't enough people to pick up the hoes again. In fact, the Hokage had been assigning missions out into the fields for many of Konoha's shinobi just to keep the village out of famine.

There was only so much he could do though. He couldn't get the crops to grow faster. He couldn't make the livestock more plentiful. In time, as with all things, it would get better and Hinata didn't mind paying more for her produce. If her money went to put food into the mouths of others she would happily continue to pay. With a soft smile to the old woman, Hinata grabbed her cloth bag of produce from the counter and hooked it over her shoulder. Just as she reached the door to the grocery store, she paused at the sound of her own name.

"Oh hey! Hinata-chan!" a loud voice called behind her. "Wait up!"

Hinata turned around to see Sakura waving at her as she scrambled to put her stuff on the counter. The old woman stared in awe at the amount of food she'd presented to her but quickly shook off her surprise and began to tally up her total. The Hyuuga blinked, it was a rare sight to see Sakura outside of the hospital and even rarer for it to be in broad daylight. The woman never took a day off from work. Hinata watched as Sakura gave the old woman fistfuls of money without counting it and nimbly grabbed her grocery bags off of the counter. She eyed the two bags her colleague carried curiously. What could Sakura need with so much food?

"Good afternoon, Sakura-san." Hinata greeted politely as the pink haired woman approached with a big smile on her face. "Is today your day off?"

Sakura nodded, using the side of her hip to push open the glass doors and stepping out onto the sidewalk.

"I tried to go in this morning but Tsunade refused to let me. She said I looked like death warmed over or something. I think she's just exaggerating."

Hinata looked the woman up and down. She didn't look bad at all in her opinion. Her short pink hair was much better kept now than it had been in the last six months. Her skin looked healthy and her smile actually reached her eyes for once. Whatever Tsunade had seen as a problem, Hinata couldn't see it.

"Anyway, I decided to go shopping since I have the time." Sakura said.

"That's a lot of food for just you isn't it?" Hinata remarked, pushing some of her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, this?" Sakura said, raising the two bags slightly for emphasis. "This isn't mine. Well, some of it is but most of it is for Naruto."

"Naruto?" Hinata replied, her heart leaping uncomfortably in her chest just by the sound of his name on her tongue.

"Yea. He doesn't have any food in his house that isn't already heavily processed or spoiled. I've told him he can't be a good Hokage if he doesn't eat properly but the blockhead never listens to me."

Hinata nodded along with Sakura's words but her stomach flipped each time. How did Sakura know about the contents of Naruto's kitchen? Had she been to his house? If she had been there…why?

"He left early this morning for a short mission to the fields. His shadow clones are really useful out there. He should be back tomorrow morning according to the missive scroll he left behind. So I thought I'd go ahead and fill his fridge with something better than spoiled ramen ya know?"

She could feel her fingertips begin to tingle as an unfamiliar feeling of jealousy began to creep in but she just held onto the strap of her grocery bag tighter. If Naruto wanted to have Sakura over at his house that was his choice. She had no right to feel jealous of Sakura. Naruto didn't belong to her. He would _never_ belong to her.

"Hey! I know! How about you come over to his apartment with me and you could show me how to cook!" Sakura suggested excitedly and Hinata was taken aback for a moment.

"W-what?"

"They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and well…I'm not very good at cooking." She said, a hint of bashfulness in her voice. " Sasuke still isn't eating and I want him to get stronger as soon as possible."

"Sakura-san…I-" she started to say at the sound of the Uchiha's name but her words died on her lips as Sakura's bright green eyes looked at her expectantly.

"Please Hinata-chan? I've seen the lunches you've brought to work. They smell so good! If I cooked like you I bet Sasuke wouldn't know what to do with himself! Please teach me!" she said playfully as she reached out to grab Hinata's hands. "We can have girl talk too and I bet Naruto would be super happy to have a meal that was made by you."

"I…I…I'm sorry." Hinata whispered and Sakura's hands fell away from her own. "I have to get home."

"Hinata, are you-" Sakura started but Hinata didn't give her a chance to finish as she turned quickly on her heel and headed as fast as she could towards the Hyuuga compound.

A burning feeling behind her eyes resurfaced as she pictured Sakura's concerned face, knowing all the while she didn't deserve it. How could she have forgotten that Sakura was still in love with Sasuke? Here she was feeling jealous of Sakura being at Naruto's house when she herself was doing something so much worse.

Hinata swallowed thickly as she hurried as fast as her feet would take her towards the compound but no matter how fast she walked, it wasn't fast enough. She could see the gates of the compound at the end of the tree-lined path but each step she took grew more and more difficult. Sakura would not smile at her like she had today when she found out. She would not laugh with her, she would not hug her. She would surely hate her.

She could clearly remember the day they'd brought Sasuke into the hospital, all bloodied and nearly unrecognizable. She remembered the determination in Sakura's eyes as she commanded her subordinates around the operating room and snatched the last Uchiha away from death's clutches. If the roles were reversed…if Sakura were the one marrying Naruto…Hinata wasn't quite sure if she'd be able to get over it.

'Sakura-' she thought as she tripped over her own feet and her groceries fell onto the dirt road. 'I'm sorry.'

Her knees stung as they buckled underneath her, no longer willing to carry her any further. The burning sensation intensified but this time the problem wasn't her eyes but her throat. Hinata tried to swallow but her mouth had gone dry. A feeling of panic began to set in as she felt bile rise to the back of her throat and she struggled to keep it down. Her nails dug into the dirt, rocks and grass gripped between her fingers. With her last shaky, breath she couldn't hold it in anymore and threw up right there in the road.

'How pathetic.' She thought as she let out enough to begin dry heaving. 'I'm worse than he is.'….

… _..Hinata pressed her lips together in a tight line as she noted the lower dosage across the board for all of Sasuke's current medication. They were supposed to be weaning him off but this was a drastic cut. She let out a long breath of frustration through her nose at the information and shook her head. She understood that Sakura was only trying to help Sasuke get better faster but this was not the way to do it. He put on a strong, impassive face in front of the pink haired woman but Hinata knew the truth. He was broken in more ways than one and trying to speed up the healing process would do more harm than good._

" _Mother."_

 _Hinata looked up from the clipboard hanging on the edge of his bed. The basement was dimly lit, enough for her to read without too much difficulty but dark enough to trick one into believing that it wasn't daylight outside. The room's permanent occupant stirred for the first time since she arrived but he didn't open his eyes. That was odd._

" _Uchiha-san?" she called out, placing the clipboard back to it's hook and walking around to the left side of his bed._

 _He groaned in his sleep, his face scrunching up the closer she came to his side. She pressed a hand against his forehead but he wasn't running a fever. In fact, he felt absolutely cold to the touch._

" _Sasuke are you okay?" she asked, her usual formality slipping away and was replaced with genuine worry._

" _Mother." He replied hoarsely and his body began to tremble underneath her fingertips._

" _Sasuke?"_

 _As the shaking increased and the hair on his arms began to stand up on end. The machine that monitored his heart rate went haywire, filling the room with frantic high pitched beeps. What was wrong with him? For a moment she glanced over at the silent Anbu guard that stood in the corner of the room_. _The masked figure took a short step out of the shadows, giving her a curt nod, before exiting the room. There was no doubt he was off to inform the Hokage of Sasuke's condition. Biting her lip she returned her attention the trembling man and tried to bring him awake._

" _Sasuke." She called out, shaking his shoulders as roughly as she could without disturbing the multitude of wires that were connecting him to the medical machines. "Sasuke-"_

 _The Uchiha's eyes snapped open and he let out a gasp as if he were struggling to fill his lungs with air. Hinata only had a second to step away from him before he leaned over the side of the bed and promptly threw up. She winced at the sound of regurgitation hitting the cement floor and turned away from the sight…_

….She could still hear the way he called out for his mother ringing in her ears in an almost achingly beautiful plea. It made her want to call out to her own mother for comfort and warmth. She pressed a hand to her chest and rubbed the tension right above her heart. There wasn't much that she and Sasuke shared but the loss of a mother was something that seemed to affect him too.

Even after all these years…

How often did he think about her? She'd never met Uchiha Mikoto but she'd heard rumors of the deceased matriarch's beauty. A beauty that it had been rumored her son Sasuke had inherited. Hinata took a deep breath, focusing on a woman she'd never met in an attempt to stop thinking about her own insecurities and trepidation.

Once Hinata could feel her heart rate return to normal she shakily rose up on shaky feet. This was what she deserved for not taking care of herself the way she should be. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten more than a piece of fruit or had slept peacefully through the night. _Had_ she even slept last night? She was better than this. She wasn't a weak little girl anymore. She had to take better care of herself. There were people counting on her and if Sakura…if Sakura ended up hating her…that was just the way it had to be.

Slowly she started to pick up her now bruised produce and put them back into her grocery bag. After that was complete she gathered an armload of fallen leaves and sprinkled them over the mess she'd made, praying all the while that no one found it later.

…..

Later that night, as the rain beat down heavily against the window panes, Hinata found herself alone in the main house kitchen after shooing the staff away to return to their own families. She'd pushed the panic attack she'd experienced earlier to the back of her mind and had put on a well-worn mask to hide her fatigue. Her clan members still stared at her as she passed but this time she understood why they were staring.

She was not one of them…at least she wouldn't be for very long.

The council had already sent off a few branch members with the order for her wedding kimono to be made. It would take months for all of the silk necessary to be gathered and she found it to be a frivolous expenditure. They disagreed. The only way for the Hyuuga to remain on top was for everyone to _believe_ that they still were.

Hinata sighed, draining the water from the rice she'd finished washing into the sink. She moved the uncooked rice from the sink and brought it over to the stove where another pot of salt water was bubbling up and ready to receive it. The rice fell into the hot water with a satisfying cascade and once she finished transferring it, she moved on to the island to begin cutting up vegetables. She started with the carrots, moving onto to the bell peppers, before finishing up with the tomatoes. The sound of her steady chopping filled the empty kitchen and allowed her to clear her mind from the day's stressors.

Nothing else mattered when she was in the kitchen. Everything she touched was under her control and she took joy in exploiting the natural talent she had for cooking to the fullest whenever she had the time. When she finished chopping her vegetables she turned back to check on the rice. Upon finding it done, she dumped the contents of the pot into a colander in the sink and allowed the excess water to drain off. Hot steamed blew up into her face, coloring her cheeks and frizzing her bangs. She smiled at the perfectly fluffy grains in front of her before grabbing a pan from the cabinet next to her and setting it on the stove.

"Onee-san ." A tired voice called from the entrance to the kitchen just as she began to pour oil into the pan.

Hinata looked up to see who'd addressed her and was met with the sight of her little sister. Her long brown hair was stuck to her cheeks and neck, no doubt due to the storm raging outside, and her pale skin was bruised and dirtied. Hanabi's black uniform was completely soaked through, her bloated chunin vest limply hanging from her fingertips. She crossed the room with dark bags of fatigue under her eyes but there was still a small smile on her chapped lips. Hinata smiled back at the nearly drowned girl dripping water and tracking a trail of mud behind her.

"I'm home." Hanabi said with a lopsided smile that didn't quite match her eyes.

"Welcome home." Hinata replied, reaching out to caress Hanabi's cheek.

She flinched for a moment, still tense from the mission she'd completed and unused to a human touch that wasn't intended to be lethal, but eventually, she allowed Hinata to touch her. Hinata's smile broadened as Hanabi leaned into the warmth her hand provided, eyes closed and lips pursed shut.

"It must have been difficult." She said softly and Hanabi nodded stiffly. "Go. Have a seat."

Hanabi opened her eyes and moved away to do as she'd been directed. Her wet feet squelched against the kitchen tile as she retreated to the island and took a seat at the bar. Hinata grabbed a small bowl from the cabinet over the sink and scooped a hefty amount of rice into the bowl. After a difficult mission, the last thing Hanabi needed was something heavy on her stomach but rice would be fine.

She then turned back to her tired looking little sister and placed the bowl in front of her. Hinata watched with a heavy heart as her sister stared unblinkingly at the bowl. Tears began to well up in Hanabi's eyes but instead of allowing them to fall, Hinata held out a pair of chopsticks to her. Hanabi sniffed and took them, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand.

…..

"Aw man!" Kiba groaned over the sound of the rain that beat down on them. "I thought getting done early meant beating the storm dammit. We should have just left out in the morning."

"Think of it as a free shower." Naruto laughed and his companion glared at him.

The Uzumaki didn't mind the rain. In fact, it was pretty refreshing after a long day of turning manure ladened soil in the hot sun. His shadow clones had been a huge help with the task but his muscles were beyond sore. The rain at least assisted in keeping his mind off of his own discomfort. As he and Kiba jumped from branch to branch, the sight of Konoha's main gate came closer into view. They slowed down to a normal pace right at the entrance and the guards standing under covered awnings waved them in, laughing behind their hands at the thoroughly soaked pair.

"Ha, ha." Kiba sneered as he passed them. "Laugh it up. They won't think it's so funny when they're sent to the fields next."

"Aw, it wasn't so bad!" Naruto countered and Kiba shot him an incredulous look.

"Says mister 'I can make a billion clones'"

"I've never counted but I don't know if a billion is possible."

"Yea, yea, anyway." Kiba yawned as they walked through the empty streets, the rain beating down on their heads. "Have you seen Hinata lately?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment as the image of her in the graveyard resurfaced to the forefront his mind. How she looked at him with such sad eyes the other morning when Sasuke had kicked them out of his hospital room. He pushed those thoughts away and scratched the back of his head as brown eyes narrowed suspiciously in his direction. The Inuzuka was fiercely protective of Hinata. If he found out that she was spending time at Sasuke's bedside he'd be sure to flip. Despite his desire to be honest with a fellow shinobi, he couldn't risk Kiba's temper getting the better of him.

"I think I saw her once or twice at the hospital." Naruto said. A half-truth. Not a lie.

Kiba's suspicion diminished and he started walking again.

"That makes sense. I hear that they've been really busy at the hospital lately." He mused with a shrug. "Well if you see her again tell her…tell her… nevermind."

"Kiba?"

"It's nothing man. I'll catch ya later." He said as he jumped onto the roof of a nearby house and headed towards the Inuzuka district.

"That was weird." Naruto mumbled to himself.

He watched Kiba's quickly retreating form, an unsettling feeling nibbling at the back of his mind. Was there something going on between Kiba and Hinata?

'No.' he thought, assured in the fact that the Hinata he knew was much too honest to play with the feelings of others. 'She wouldn't have kissed me if she was with someone else.'

With that assurance in mind, he quickly shook off his own insecurities and headed towards the outskirts of town. By the time he made it to his apartment, the rain had picked up to a near torrential downpour. Thunder shook the earth and lightning flashed, illuminating up the village in a strange blue-gray light. Even though he knew that his apartment wasn't much to go home to, it was better than being out in the rain. He ran up the cement steps to his apartment, careful not to slip in his haste, and when he reached the door he quickly threw it open.

However, instead of being met with darkness and the smell of stale clothing all of the lights were on. The small, lumpy green couch in the living room was free of the mountain of clothes that were usually draped over it. The coffee table had been cleared of old ramen cups and food wrappers. Now dozens of scrolls he was supposed to be studying to become Hokage had taken their place. He could actually see the scratched up hardwood floors that had been swept for the first time since he'd moved into the place after the war. Hesitantly he stepped into the brightly lit apartment…was this even the right place? As he went further inside he could smell something cooking on the stove he never used and the sound of dishes being tossed into the sink.

"Hello?" he called out as he turned the corner into the kitchen.

He was then greeted with the sight of Sakura holding a sudsy sponge and pan, pointed in his direction like a weapon.

"Naruto?" she said, lowering her soapy weapons back into the sink. "What are you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here? I live here. What are you doing here?" he asked and Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Everything is all… _different._ "

"I just thought I'd straighten up this place since you can't seem to do it yourself."

"I can see the floor."

"When you pick up trash stuff like that tends to happen."

It was small at first. A tiny bubbling in the back of his throat. His lips involuntarily spread into a smile and the laughter that escaped echoed off of the walls of the tiny apartment. As he doubled over with laughter, clutching the side of the counter for support, Sakura began to laugh too. The sound of it joined his own and only made him laugh harder. Not because what she'd said was particularly funny but because it just felt good. It felt good to laugh until his stomach hurt.

It felt good to not be alone.

"Alright funny guy." Sakura interjected when their laughter had finally subsided. "Since you're here early I'll just finish packing up the food I made and put it in the fridge. I was about to head out soon anyway."

Naruto blinked and glanced warily at the stove. There was a pot of rice threatening to boil over and a pan that held a slightly smoking black square. He gulped.

"You cooked too?" he asked and Sakura nodded her head proudly.

"Yep! You have to eat it all. After being in the fields all day you have to be mindful of your caloric intake."

"Uh…thanks, Sakura-chan."

"No need to thank me. Consider it payback."

"Payback?" Naruto asked as she started fiddling inside of his cabinets for containers he didn't even know he owned. "For what?"

Sakura paused in her search and turned her bright green eyes in his direction.

"For bringing Sasuke back to us…to me. For being stubborn enough to take care of me even when I don't want you to. For well…everything."

Naruto gaped at her as she went back to packing up the 'food' she'd made him, rendered speechless by what she'd said. Villagers had lavished their gratitude on him since the Pein attack and even more so after the war had ended. It was odd for him to receive such niceties from people who'd once cursed his shadow if it crossed their doorstep. He took it in stride though, never once showing his discomfort with their gratitude but with Sakura it was different. He'd much rather have her yelling at him. He knew how to handle an angry Sakura. He knew how to handle a sad Sakura. He had no idea how to deal with this iteration. As she closed the last plastic container full of food, she placed it in the fridge and let out a breath of relief.

"All done." She said proudly. "You have to promise to eat it all okay? I'll see you tomorrow-"

"Sakura," he started, his mouth moving faster than his brain could catch up. "It's raining."

She cocked her head curiously to the side and tapped a finger against her chin.

"Yea it is isn't it? It can't be helped. A little rain never hurt anyone."

"You should stay." He said and her eyes widened. "I mean until it stops raining. It wouldn't be good if you got sick. There are lots of people that need you at the hospital and Baa-chan would kill me if something happened to you. Plus it's pretty dark out there and-"

"Okay." She said, interrupting his tirade with a simple shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay?"

"Okay. I'll stay. Only for tonight though." She said with a smirk. "If I stay any longer what will the neighbors think?"

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head. What _would_ the neighbors think? Sakura flashed him a playful wink but immediately started pushing him out of the kitchen.

"Go take a shower already. Look! You've made a puddle on the floor and I'm sure you've tracked mud in too." She huffed and pushed him down the short hallway.

"Alright. Alright. You don't have to push so hard!"

…...

"You're back." Sasuke sneered as she entered the room, his eyes glaring in the wrong direction.

Hinata bit her lower lip as the heavy metal door slammed behind her, reminding all occupants of how much of a prison the place was. The Hyuuga nodded to the silent Anbu guard that was cloistered in a shadowy corner and made her way over to Sasuke's hospital bed. It had been two days since the last time she'd seen him, unable to get away from her original hospital duties long enough to come see him. It had been nice being away from him. For a while, she'd been able to pretend that everything was fine but that didn't last for long. The guilt of leaving Sasuke to fester in near solitude in the basement ate at the back of her mind and worsened when coupled with the Hokage's words.

 _No one is completely anchored by their past._

People could change, this she knew from her own personal experience. However…was change possible for someone as unredeemable as the last Uchiha? A man that had so much darkness in his heart that a helping hand was synonymous with a hurtful one? Absently she touched her neck, the bruises that he'd left were now completely faded but the effect of them still haunted her. How could she marry a man that wanted to kill her- had already tried to kill her? How could she understand a man like that?

She sighed as she placed her bag down on the bedside table and turned her attention to the Uchiha. He turned his head in her correct direction and unfocused obsidian glared back at her.

"Hurry up." He groaned as he slowly lowered himself onto his back for the procedure to begin.

As he did so an awkward growling emanated from his stomach and light pink, almost imperceptible blush dusted across his cheeks. Both parties ignored the sound but when she placed a hand on his lower abdomen the growling came back even stronger.

"Have you…have eaten today?" she asked as she retracted her hand and Sasuke merely grunted.

His stomach growled again, confirming her suspicions. Was this man trying to starve himself to death? Sakura's cooking might not be edible but the hospital's food wasn't _that bad_. Hinata pressed her lips together in a tight line and turned back to where she'd placed her bag by his bedside. She reached inside and grabbed the lunch that she'd packed for herself only an hour ago and popped open the top.

Inside was a simple meal of the sauteed vegetables she'd made last night and some rice. Nothing too fancy but enough to get her through the day. Well, it _would_ have been enough if a certain Uchiha had actually been eating their meals like they were supposed to. With a roll of her eyes, she turned back to Sasuke's bedside and pulled up a chair to sit next to him. Sasuke struggled to prop himself up to a sitting position with his cuffed hands as the chair scrapped across the floor.

"What are you doing?" he asked, wincing when his stomach growled again.

"You should eat." She said softly as she sat down. His nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction at her words.

"I'm not eating the slop this hospital serves-"

"This isn't from the hospital."

"Or Sakura-"

"She didn't make this either."

She watched as Sasuke paused, the last of his protests hanging on the tip of his tongue. Taking the opportunity of his mouth being open, she grabbed the plastic spoon she'd brought to use for herself and scooped a small portion of veggies and rice into his mouth. His eyes widened momentarily at the brazen assault and she removed the spoon from his mouth. Reluctantly he began to chew which she took as a good sign.

"Is it…okay?" Hinata asked, unconsciously holding her breath for approval she didn't realize she wanted.

The only people who had eaten her food were her sister and her teammates. Hanabi liked anything she made so her approval didn't count too much while her teammates were too kind to give their honest opinions. Sasuke swallowed her food and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I don't like it when foods touch each other." He grumbled and Hinata looked down at the lunch box in her lap.

Rice and veggies were the only things in there. Was he really that picky? What was wrong with food touching?

"Are you going to feed me or am I going to continue to starve?" Sasuke asked with a haughty sniff and Hinata looked back up.

His messy black hair fell over the eye she knew possessed the Rinnegan but his remaining black eye stared back into her own. For the first time since she'd agreed to help Naruto and Sakura she actually looked at him. The sunken look in his tired eyes. The paleness of his skin that was pulled taut over high cheekbones. The sharpness of his nose contrasted by the subtle curve of his lips. If he didn't look so tired, if he hadn't lost so much weight…he possessed features that one might even consider handsome…

Hinata sniffed, breaking eye contact with the blind man and proceeding to create a gap as best as she could between the rice and the vegetables. Just as she raised a spoonful of _only_ vegetables up to his lips, the basement door creaked open on its rusty hinges.

"Ah, Hinata-san." The Hokage said as he entered the dank space of the basement, his long robes sweeping the gritty floor. "I'm glad you're here."

"Kakashi." Sasuke growled, all notions of food forgotten with the new man's appearance.

"It's been awhile Sasuke. We have much to discuss."

 **To be continued** _ **….Becoming an Idiot**_


	5. Becoming an Idiot

**CCNote: Alright, alright, alright! Here's a new chapter, hot off the presses! To the awesome people reading this story, thanks so much! Two readers pointed out an age problem last chapter so I went back and changed it. Instead of Anbu, Hanabi is a **chunin **. This does not change the overall trajectory of the story nor Hanabi's place in it but it was helpful for people to point it out to me. So, thank you!**

 **Anywho, I'll be in South Korea for the rest of this week for spring break so there won't be any spontaneous updates.** Login **and put me on alerts so you don't have to keep checking back. Follow my Snaps if you wanna see some cool Korean stuff! As always please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **V.**

 **Becoming an Idiot**

The room was silent as Kakashi made his way to the hospital bed of his former pupil. Despite the terrible shape he was in and shackled hands, Sasuke still glared in his general direction defiantly as if he could actually win a fight. If he was in a better condition Kakashi had no doubt that he could. Sasuke had surpassed him long ago. In a way, that fact filled him with pride but he knew that the Uchiha's skill would also be his undoing. The council saw him as a threat and while he cared for Sasuke, they weren't exactly wrong for thinking that way. There was more blood on the boy's hands than some of their most skilled shinobi. Being a Hokage meant protecting all of his people even against those he cared about. Sometimes that even meant protecting the ones he cared about from themselves. The Hyuuga had their own selfish reasons for wanting Sasuke to stay alive and he had his own.

"Get it over with Kakashi." Sasuke grumbled and Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. It appeared as though Sasuke still had not learned a lesson in patience.

"Now, now Sasuke." He said as he approached the foot of the bed. "I understand that it must be nice to have such a beautiful woman feed you but we have business to attend to."

Kakashi's covered smirk grew wider as he watched Hinata's face turn a rather vibrant shade of red while Sasuke's nose wrinkled in disgust. Who would have thought that the word 'beautiful' could cause such a varied reaction?

"So now, where to begin?" the silver-haired man said pensively and Sasuke scoffed.

"How about with the date of my execution."

"There will be no execution." Kakashi replied flatly, noting how Sasuke's lips pressed together into a frown.

"You've gotten soft Kakashi."

"Have I?"

"What do you want from me in exchange for staying a death I'm sure the council has been vying for?"

"I want you to try again."

Sasuke's frown deepened, his black eyes pointedly narrowed at a spot just over his shoulder.

"Try…again."

"Yes. Here in the village. Try _again_."

"There's a catch."

"Not a catch. A condition."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi noticed Hinata fidget slightly in her chair. Pale fingers curled around the sides of her opened lunch box and her long hair hid her face from view. He didn't need to see her face to know that she was woefully uncomfortable with the situation. However, if she wanted out she could get out. Hiashi and the Hyuuga elders had already made it clear that Hanabi was a viable option to take her place. A rather problematic option but one nonetheless.

"What is this…condition? Must I be at the Leaf's beck and call to do your dirty work?" Sasuke sneered, drawing his attention away from Hinata.

"Yes. Part of the agreement is to have you continue to work for the Leaf as a loyal shinobi."

"And how do you intended to ensure that loyalty? Brainwashing?"

"Actually no." Kakashi said, crossing his arms over his chest. "There is a simpler way to tie you to the village. A way to give you something more to live for. A marriage."

Kakashi had anticipated many reactions from Sasuke that ranged from total silence to an all-out shouting match. What he hadn't expected was for the young man to begin laughing. Hysterically at that. Beside him, Hinata looked up from her lap to stare at Sasuke with wide eyes, just as taken aback as he was by his reaction. He clutched his stomach as he doubled over in a rather sadistic laugh that took a considerable amount of time to die down.

"No really Kakashi. You can do better than that."

"Sasuke this is not a joke."

The Uchiha smirked as he brought his knee up and rested his elbow on top of it, a look of genuine mirth in his dark eyes.

"Alright, I'll bite. What pitiful excuse for a woman has the council decided for me to wed?"

Kakashi looked back at Hinata who had returned to staring at her lap and mentally sighed.

"It wasn't the council, although their approval is contingent upon your acceptance. The Hyuuga-"

"The _Hyuuga_?" Sasuke sneered, interrupting him midspeech. "That's rich. The fucking Hyuuga? Did she break her precious chastity vow and this is her punishment? Do you really expect me to bind myself to whatever Hyuuga whore reject you and the council has decided to subject me to? This was amusing but no."

"Hinata-san." Kakashi said calmly as he watched the small woman silently take in Sasuke's harsh words. "You are free to go."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Hinata said softly with a short bow of her head.

She didn't look at him or Sasuke as she departed, leaving her lunch box opened on the chair and her bags on the bedside table. Kakashi frowned at Sasuke as the heavy metal door shut behind her but of course his disapproval didn't register. Even if Sasuke could see him it wasn't like he would care much anyway.

"Sasuke." He said as he picked up Hinata's abandoned lunch box and took a seat. "You seem to be under the impression that this is all a joke. I can assure you that it's not."

Sasuke's upper lip twitched and his eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything in response.

"We can do this the easy way. You can turn over a new leaf and have the life I'm sure your brother and clan would have wanted for you. _Or_ you can endure a slow and painful torture at the hands of some of our best interrogators. Your mind contains a lot of secrets that could prove to be useful to us and we have several ways of extracting information we might believe you possess. You might think you are strong now but by the end of it you will be begging for death."

"How did you already know my deepest desire?" Sasuke smirked. "We can just skip your torture games. I'm ready to die when you're ready to kill me."

Kakashi frowned, leaning back in his chair.

"After everything Naruto and Sakura have sacrificed to get you to this point, you still wish to die?"

The smirk fell from Sasuke's lips and he turned his face away.

"No one asked them to be so stupid."

"I don't believe you really want to die." Kakashi flatly and Sasuke tensed at his words. "In any case, I think that living is a more fitting punishment for you."

Kakashi allowed for a hushed silence to fall between the two as he watched Sasuke mull over the information he'd just been given. Living was probably not at the top of his agenda and getting married didn't even make the list.

"So." Sasuke grunted. "What poor soul has the proud Hyuuga clan decided they are willing to give to a traitor?"

Kakashi smirked and pulled out the weathered marriage scroll from the sleeve of his robe.

"Why, the heiress of course. Hyuuga Hinata." He said, utterly amused at the way Sasuke's head snapped in his direction at Hinata's name. "As I said before Sasuke, we have much to discuss."

 **…..**

It had started off innocently enough. One night had turned into two, two into three. Her clothing got mixed in with his in the wash. In the morning, if he was lucky, he'd find himself buried in a head of pink hair. On mornings when he wasn't, he was alone and his bed was cold. She'd claimed it was easier to get to the hospital from his apartment. He refused to let her walk home to her parents' house at night. She said that she wouldn't come over again if he kept leaving his dirty clothes all over the place. He discreetly began throwing out the food she made. Without fail she still returned to his apartment and washed his clothes and somehow he'd found himself donning an apron and making dinner every night instead. This was what friends did right? No… the term 'friends' did quite feel right. They were closer than friends. Comrades….teammates perhaps? Those terms didn't seem to work either.

Naruto frowned as he stepped out of his tiny shower and walked over to the sink. The mirror had fogged over so much that he could no longer see his own reflection so wiped away the moisture with his hand. Halfway through he caught himself, aware that Sakura would yell at him for leaving streak marks. His eyes lowered to the cup next to the sink faucet that held two toothbrushes. One orange, the other pink. A reminder that little by little, he was no longer alone.

A strange sensation pooled in the bottom of his stomach as he walked out of his cramped bathroom and into his bedroom to put on some clothes. As with the rest of the house, he could still see the floor. His clothing was put away in its proper place, dirty and clean no longer indiscriminately intermingling. He pulled one of many black t-shirts out of his dresser drawer and pair of orange pajama bottoms. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about the changes that were slowly creeping up on him. They felt nice but at the same time, it frightened him.

He sighed and padded down the short hallway to the living room where Sakura was sitting at his low lying, woefully wobbly coffee/kitchen table. In front of her was a rather large medical scroll with text so small it made his eyes cross just glancing at it.

"What the heck are you studying?" he asked with a huff as he unceremoniously threw himself onto the lumpy green couch behind her.

"I'm just reviewing molecular regeneration." She said simply as she placed the scroll on the table and leaned back against the side of the couch.

"Review? You mean you already read that whole thing?"

"Of course."

"Why read it again then?"

"Because it's good to review what you know. Even when you learn more it's good to go back to the basics."

"Mole-blah blah regena-whatever is not basic."

Sakura shook her head and then laid it back on the couch cushion behind her, a wry smile on her lips as she looked up at him. His gaze trailed from her eyes down to her lips. He admired the gentle slope of her jaw down to her neck where slightly damp locks of pink hair still clung from the shower she'd taken before him. As his eyes traveled slowly back up to hers, that strange burning sensation in his chest returned.

"Molecular regeneration, idiot." She snickered and he couldn't help but grow tense as her lips formed a teasing smirk. Did her lips feel as soft as they looked? "What are you staring at?"

"You." He said, the word tumbling from his lips before he could even stop himself.

She opened her mouth to respond but instead of letting her speak, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. It was fleeting at first. He could have passed it off as a mistake but when her bright green eyes blinked back up at him he knew that it wasn't. The second kiss was no less nervous than the first but it was more purposeful. Her soft lips pressed back hesitantly against his own. When he descended for a third time, the uncomfortable feeling in his chest lessened. If only for a moment. Kissing Sakura had been something he'd dreamed about since the day they'd been assigned to the same team. When he wasn't imagining being the Hokage or kicking Sasuke's butt, his daydreams had been filled with images of long pink hair and jade eyes and lips that said 'I love you'. In reality, those lips only said 'idiot' and in a way…that was even better.

"Naruto." Sakura whispered when he pulled away once more. "I…we can't. Hinata-"

The Hyuuga's name tumbling from her lips was as effective as throwing a bucket of cold water on his head. There was a reason why those childhood fantasies had ended. A reason why being called an 'idiot' was better than an 'I love you'. Naruto shifted away from Sakura, the guilt he felt washing over him in waves.

"I- I'm sorry." Sakura said, her voice small and wavering. "I think I should go."

He stared blankly up at the ceiling as Sakura stood up from her spot on the floor and crossed the short distance to the front door. He wanted to stop her. He wanted to ask her to stay…to not leave him alone…but the door shut firmly behind her without a word of protest on his part.

 **…..**

 _Do you really expect me to bind myself to some Hyuuga whore reject…_

Hinata frowned as she made her way to the hospital to begin her shift for the day. The Uchiha's words had been rolling around incessantly in her mind for the better half of a week. She knew that she wasn't a 'whore' nor a 'reject' but his words still hurt just the same. The way _Hyuuga_ had dripped off of his tongue as if it sickened him just to say it… what kind of man was _she_ binding herself to?

'One that thinks I'm a whore.' Hinata thought bitterly to herself as she turned the corner that led to the hospital.

She let out a short snort of contempt as she adjusted the strap of her bag and tried to push all thoughts of Uchiha Sasuke out of her mind. She had lots of work to do today and she was not about to let his insults impede her from doing her duty. With that thought in mind, she picked up her pace but was stopped when she bumped into something hard. The force of the impact caused her to take a couple of steps back, rubbing the sore spot in the center of her forehead.

"Oh Hinata!" a familiar voice said, and her face immediately began to turn bright red at the sound of it. "I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"N-naruto-kun!" she squeaked in surprise and he smiled back at her, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Flustered by her own absentmindedness she gave him a quick bow. "Um- uh good morning!"

"Yea." He said, his voice trailing off and his trademark smile dimming. "Good morning."

Hinata bit her bottom lip nervously, a weird energy settling between them. Usually being around Naruto felt as easy as breathing but right now…it felt like she was suffocating. Why wouldn't it be any different? Her heart yearned for him but she'd already signed herself away to another man. A man who just so happened to be his best friend and also thought she was a whore.

"Hinata…" Naruto started, his voice taking on a tone of seriousness she'd rarely heard from him. "We should…we should talk."

"Talk?" She repeated softly and he nodded his head.

"Yea but not right now. I just got assigned a mission this morning." He continued, absently kicking s few pieces of gravel with his foot. "I'll be back in a month or two but when I return I thought we could…maybe we could…"

"Talk." Hinata finished for him, a small sad smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

They definitely needed to talk. If Sasuke had just been informed about their marriage contract, it was only a matter of time before Naruto found out as well. She'd rather tell him herself than for him to find out through someone else.

"Yea…talk." He said finally. "Hey, maybe we can grab something to eat at Ichiraku's. I'm sure by the time I get back Sasuke will be up and walking around by then. Sakura will probably drag him out…it'll be like a reunion."

He laughed awkwardly, kicking more gravel with his foot. Hinata smiled back at him, her hands clutched together nervously over her heart. Even though he was laughing it didn't feel quite right. Nothing about this encounter felt right.

"Anyway…see ya Hinata." He said with a light-hearted wave and ran off before she could even respond.

'Hinata.' The Hyuuga thought to herself. 'Not Hina-chan.'

The change was small…so minute most people wouldn't notice. However, even a small crack was enough to collapse a building. She bit her bottom lip and turned to head into the hospital, no longer wishing to watch his retreating back. Instead, she pressed onward through the bustling building, bowing politely to her superiors and skillfully dodging people scurry up and down the halls.

The hospital was always a flurry of activity, day or night. Rain or shine. Hinata smiled as she watched a new mother being wheeled down the hall with a baby in her arms and a tired grin on her face. Life was returning to Konoha. Brick by brick…with each new birth…they were slowly getting back on their feet. The happiness of seeing the newly united mother and child lasted her until she made it to the third floor that held the tiny office Sakura had commandeered for herself.

As with the beginning of every shift she always visited the medic to make sure she wasn't still sleeping at her desk from pulling an all-nighter. Although, in recent days she'd been more awake and alert. In fact, for the past week, she hadn't fallen asleep at her desk once. Partially expecting an alert colleague, Hinata she knocked softly on the door but there was no response. She knocked again but was still only greeted with silence which wasn't entirely unusual if Sakura had fallen back into her old insomniac habit.

Hinata shrugged and turned the doorknob, letting herself into the office without permission. However, instead of Sakura being passed out over a scroll as she was apt to do, she found the woman staring despondently at her desk. As Hinata approached the woman didn't move or speak, her eyes remained glued to a small silver key sitting in the middle of her desk. A tiny green frog was attached to the key ring, smiling innocently back up at them.

"Sakura-san." Hinata said softly and the woman's eyes snapped up to her. "Good morning."

"Oh good morning." Sakura replied, snatching the key off of her desk and slipping it into her lab coat pocket. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

"It's okay. I just got here."

Sakura absently bit her bottom lip as she looked at her wristwatch and cursed under her breath.

"I'm running late today, I'll see you later Hinata." She mumbled with downcast eyes as she pushed away from her desk. Hinata nodded, stepping out of the way to allow Sakura to push past her. Her fingers curled around the fabric of her lavender shirt, willing the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach to go down.

'Hinata…not Hinata-chan.'

 **….**

" _So you're telling me the Uchiha assets will be unfrozen?" Sasuke asked, listening intently for a clue as to whether Kakashi's offer was a trap or not._

" _Half of the lands and liquid assets will be placed under Hyuuga control in exchange."  
"They're essentially robbing me."_

" _It's not like you would have access to the funds otherwise. It will still be more than you could hope to spend within this lifetime and the next." Kakashi explained, his chair groaning underneath his weight as he moved._

" _What about the clan records and archives?"_

" _All of them are still sealed and will be released to you as the rightful head of the Uchiha."_

" _I'm the only Uchiha."_

" _Hmmm for now."_

 _Sasuke snorted, leaning back against the pillows that propped him upright. He was the last Uchiha…for now. At least the council and the Hyuuga hoped that this was only for a little while longer. His 'freedom' came at a price of course._

" _What about my eyes?" Sasuke asked, pushing all thoughts of the council and the Hyuuga's motives aside. "I am of no use to you as a shinobi without them. Why jump through these hoops for a blind man?"_

" _Your eyes will be the last thing Hinata works on." Kakashi said, leaning forward to pat his shoulder. Sasuke inwardly cringed at his touch. "We need to work on rehabilitating your body first. Plus, we can't have you running away before the wedding now can we?"_

 _Sasuke rolled his eyes and shrugged Kakashi's hand off of his shoulder. He couldn't give a damn how much the Hyuuga gained through this marriage contract. He'd honestly thought his funds had been swallowed up by Konoha long ago. He didn't care about the Uchiha clan records nor the secrets that they might hold. It wasn't like anyone could exploit them against his clan since he was the last one._

 _However, if they were stupid enough not to kill him, he wanted his sight back. Spending the rest of his life in complete darkness was something he just couldn't allow to happen. If humoring these people with a wedding got him his sight back he would do it. He'd participate in the charade. He'd bide his time and at the first opportunity, he'd bolt._

" _So." Kakashi said. "What will it be?"_

 _Sasuke's fingers twitched in anticipation as a smirk worked its way over his face. They could take all of the Uchiha assets and read his clan's secrets until their eyes bled but they would not be able to keep him._

" _Where do I sign?"_

 _Not for long anyway…._

…..Sasuke frowned as he heard the heavy basement door open and close, teasing him with the promise of freedom that was just on the other side. Small, shuffling footsteps approached his bed. The owner of which was silent but he already knew who they were without them having to say a word. The sickening smell that emanated off of them was enough of a calling card.

Hyuuga Hinata.

The bane of his current pitiful existence. His tormentor. His…fiancé? The word alone made his skin crawl. The fact that the Hokage, the council, _and_ the Hyuuga were all in agreement about the arrangement made it even worst. Him? Marry a Hyuuga? The notion itself was preposterous, especially considering _who_ he was expected to wed. His memory of one Hyuuga Hinata was fuzzy at best. It was really hard to notice and care about other people when your family had been slaughtered. Having nothing but his own abysmal thoughts for company did not aid in his attempts to flesh her out either.

He vaguely remembered a painfully shy girl with creepy eyes that were too big for her face. She had short blue hair…or was it black? Her skin was pale unless it became red and Naruto seemed to always be the oblivious culprit for that phenomenon. Beyond those basic characteristics, he had nothing else to go on about the Hyuuga Hinata from his past. He listened as the woman placed her bag on the bedside table as she always did, an annoying sigh escaping her lips as she relinquished the weight. Something was off about her though. Instead of asking him to lie back as she had before, she paused by his bedside. Her heavy breathing was as annoying as always but there was a shaky quality to it. He rolled his eyes at her blatant nervousness and laid back on the bed without prompt.

"Has tending to an invalid lost its charm?" he asked sarcastically.

When Hinata didn't reply to his taunt, his upper lip curled and he blinked up into the darkness. He did not like being ignored.

"This must make a spoiled Hyuuga like you miserable."

Silence was her only response and it made his blood boil. When Naruto and Sakura visited, as annoying as they were, they at least said something. Hadn't this girl learned any manners in that snobby clan of hers? Speaking of Naruto, he hadn't heard from him all day. The idiot would have usually made an obnoxious appearance by now.

"Where is Naruto?" he asked as Hinata lightly pressed a soft hand just over his belly button. Not that he really cared but if the blonde had put so much energy into dragging him here, the least he could do was keep him from being bored. The Hyuuga's hand stiffened at the mention of Naruto before sending a familiar jolt of chakra through her fingers.

"Naruto-kun will be away on a mission." She said, her voice just barely above a whisper. Sasuke gritted his teeth as Hinata scrapped away at the build-up in his chakra network, bit by painful bit. A feeling of anger and jealousy set in with the knowledge that Naruto was away. Here he was, blinded and chained to a hospital bed while Naruto was off doing who knows what. The thought only served to further sour his already irritated mood.

"How long?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"A month…maybe two."

"Hn…good riddance. I hope the idiot chokes." He growled and Hinata stopped her work on him.

"You…you shouldn't wish things like that on your friends." Hinata said as he struggled to get his lungs to expand fully to take a deep breath.

"Friends?" he wheezed. "That idiot is not my friend."

"Naruto-kun is not an idiot. He cares a lot about his friends and works really hard to protect the village-"

"You sound like a fangirl."

The silence that fell over them was thick and uncomfortable. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the spiraling downturn the Hyuuga's attitude had taken. It wasn't his fault Naruto was an idiot but she couldn't seem to see that. From how she always jumped to his defense to how she allowed his name to reverently roll off of her tongue. Naruto- _kun_ was clearly someone she cared deeply about.

"Hn. How stupid. You probably like him don't you? Does he know he has an admirer?" he asked and Hinata let out a small gasp which was all the confirmation he needed. How…pathetic.

"That-that's none of your b-business." She stammered but her denial was weak at best. "Naruto has a lot on his plate right now. There…there is so much work to do."

"Hn. You're pathetic."

Leave it to Kakashi to allow him to be married off to the one girl in Konoha who was in love with the village idiot. He winced as she pressed her hands against him again, a stronger surge of chakra forced through her fingers. It was all he could do to not cry out in pain and demand for the stupid woman to stop but he would not give her the satisfaction. It was clear that his comments had gotten under her skin so the pain was worth it. For however long he was forced to be a prisoner in this godforsaken village he would do his best to ensure she was just as miserable as he was.

 **To be continued…** _ **Becoming Uncomfortable**_


	6. Becoming Uncomfortable

**CCNote: I'm back! Seoul was fun. Lots to see and do of course but the food was the best part. Literally, everything was delicious which was refreshing since I'm not a big fan of the food I eat in Japan. Le sigh. Anyway, for those of you that follow, I hope you enjoyed the Snaps lol. Side note: if you like _this_ story, you might like some of my other stuff. Go check out DESERTED, Sleeping with the Enemy, and A is for Uchiha. They're all complete so you don't have to wait for updates. Go ahead and binge!**

 **Anywho! Classes are still out so I had lots of time to write this week and next week will be just as empty so expect either lots of updates or longer chapters! BTW, in case you haven't noticed. This story is a slow burn. It will take time to get where we need to go but it will be a fun ride. As with all my stories I try to leave little clues that point in the direction of where the story is heading. Sometimes folks pick up on the right away. Sometimes folks guess wrong. Either way, I hope my writing is entertaining enough for you to keep reading. So without further ado, please enjoy! Don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Uncomfortable**

"Hyuuga." Sasuke mumbled as he heard light footsteps approach his bed.

He wasn't quite sure how long it had been since the last time she'd graced him with her presence. The darkness offered him no concept of time and it wasn't like his Anbu guard was up for a chat. He knew that Sakura came to visit him every day but never when he was conscious. For that he was grateful.

"Good afternoon Uchiha-san." Hinata replied and he frowned at the sound of her voice.

The tone was soft. It was not quite a whisper but seemed as if it didn't have the possibility of getting much stronger. What kind of weakling woman had they bound him to? How was _she_ supposed to keep him anchored to this village? They had a better chance trying to attach him to Sakura than to this pitiful creature.

Perhaps they believed that he would feel the obligation to fulfill his family's wishes and marry the way they'd always intended. Fat chance of that. The contract had been drafted under less than innocent circumstances. On the Hyuuga side, it was little more than an insurance policy. For the Uchiha, it was an overly hopeful expansion of their power. Bartering children like chess pieces. The entire thing made him sick, however, he would use this arrogant folly of the past to his advantage.

"I signed the contract." He said and the sound of awkward shuffling reached his ears as she pulled down the hospital sheet to his waist.

"I know." She replied without a hint of emotion.

Sasuke refrained from letting his disappointment in her response show on his face but internally he seethed. She placed small, cold hands just above his belly button and the sharp sensation of chakra surged through her fingertips.

"This will be the last time we do this procedure Uchiha-san. You will notice a marked difference as your body readjusts to having the full use of your chakra again. This will be…painful…but please try your best to endure."

"Get it over with Hyuuga."

He clenched his teeth together, nails digging into the fleshy part of his palms as fire coursed through his veins. He'd endure alright. He'd endure until the day she gave him back his eyes.

 **….**

"There. That looks good." Sakura said proudly to herself as she smoothed out the dark blue quilt on the edge of the bed.

She placed her hands on her hips and scanned the room carefully, mentally running through the mile-long checklist in her head. The closet and dresser were packed with the bare essentials he needed for a wardrobe. The bed, one which was considerably more comfortable than the one he'd been lying in for the last few months, was made up and the only functioning bathroom was stocked with toiletries.

The kitchen was full of food but the living room remained unfurnished. She doubted that Sasuke would have much use for the room anyway. She'd set up everything in anticipation for his arrival and yet for some reason it didn't feel like enough. For the last forty-eight hours since Kakashi had approached her about Sasuke's release from the hospital she'd felt on edge…

…" _You sent for me Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as the door to the Hokage's office shut behind her._

 _It was odd to be in the office with her former sensei at the helm instead of Lady Tsunade. There were arguably fewer sake bottles scattered about and paperwork wasn't piled up to the ceiling. Kakashi was a good leader for Konoha but that didn't stop her from missing his predecessor._

" _Yes." Kakashi said as he rose from his desk chair and walked over to the windows that overlooked the village below. "I wanted to ask you about our little Sasuke's condition."_

 _Sakura blushed at the mention of Sasuke and bit her bottom lip. With Hinata's assistance, he'd been doing surprisingly well in comparison to his initial condition. He didn't heal as quickly as Naruto but their blonde teammate had the Kyuubi to thank for that ability. Her blush deepened at the thought of Naruto. He'd only been gone a week and yet her mind kept finding reasons to slip back to him. It was disturbing to say the least. Pushing thoughts of her annoying teammate aside, she went back to addressing Kakashi's inquiry._

" _He's doing well at the moment. Um…he's a bit irritable but I think that's because he's confined to the basement. Maybe we could move him to one of the upper levels of the hospital?"_

" _That won't be necessary." Kakashi started. "If Sasuke is progressing well, it would be best to move him out of the hospital entirely."_

" _Sensei?"_

" _If Sasuke is going to properly reintegrate back into the village it is better than to do it sooner rather than later."_

 _Sakura stared at Kakashi's rigid back, unsure of whether he was being serious or not. Sasuke being released? Even though has was doing a lot better than when he first awoke he still needed medicine to be administered to him like clockwork throughout the day. His sight still hadn't returned and his mood was worsening because of it._

 _He wasn't ready for the overstimulation that being out in the village would provide. The first opportunity he got he would run away or on the off chance that he stayed put he might hurt someone. She loved Sasuke but he wasn't a man who had patience for other people and at times his impulse control was worse than Naruto's._

" _Are you sure Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked and the man turned away from the window to look at her with his uncovered eye. "For health purposes, he will need to be watched around the clock. There's medicine that he will need to take and someone will have to help him get around. Not to mention that I don't know how the villagers will react to his arrival."_

" _There will be an Anbu guard stationed around the Uchiha compound until such a time that I find them to be unnecessary. For all other assistance…I will make the proper arrangements."_

 _Sakura bit her bottom lip. For all other assistance…. She wanted to be the person to help Sasuke. She'd always dreamed that she would be the one to bring him back from the brink. She would be his anchor and his refuge. That was what the teenage her had always wished but now she had other obligations. She had an entire hospital to help run and after the last six months of her shirking her responsibilities in favor of researching ways to awaken Sasuke from his slumber, she owed it to her patients and colleagues to return to them. She owed them her full attention and she couldn't do that from Sasuke's bedside._

" _In the meantime. I trust that you will be able to handle setting up the house he will live in for the time being. I believe that one or two of the houses on the Uchiha property are adequate enough for him to live in."_

" _Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura replied._

" _Also, Sakura, I need to inform you about-"_

 _Knock Knock_

" _Squad 27 reporting sir!"_

 _Sakura smiled as Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh at the muffled voice. As she turned away from her former sensei, the doors to the office opened to admit a chunin squad she was unfamiliar with. She shoved her hands into her lab coat pockets as she shuffled around them, acutely aware of the jingling the frog keychain in her pocket made when her fingers brushed against it…_

….As Kakashi had said, there were about one or two houses that were still in a habitable condition on the Uchiha property, although habitable was a term that she would use loosely. Everything had been covered with a thick layer of dirt and most of the furniture had been in a state of disrepair. It was easy enough for her to commission a moving crew to remove all of the broken and moldy items but it left the house she'd chosen in an even more ghostly state. She'd cleaned everything that she could but the floor still felt gritty when she walked on it and she couldn't shake the eerie feeling of being out of place. She wasn't meant to be here and yet she _was_. This could- _would-_ be her home one day.

When things died down at the hospital…

When Sasuke was ready…

When

When

When…

When was when? She sighed and made her way out of the bedroom and down the hallway. As a child, she'd waited for the day when Sasuke would notice her. Then she waited for the day when Naruto would bring him back. Now…what was she waiting on now? Sasuke was here. He was here in the flesh-

 _Knock Knock_

A short rapt to the front door caught her attention and she shuffled over to open it. On either side of the porch stood two Anbu guards already on alert. At the front gate were Sasuke, a curved black cane in one hand and Hinata at his side. His steps were slow and measured but he made his way up the path to the house without letting the pain of walking show on his face.

It was odd seeing him in the light, his overgrown dark hair contrasting starkly against his pale skin. He was still as handsome as he was when she'd first set eyes on him…maybe even more so now that he was older and taller. When he finally got his sight back would he find her attractive? She blushed at the shallow thought and shook her head. Sasuke thinking she was pretty should be the last thing on her mind! However, her mind kept trailing off to places it shouldn't.

As the Uchiha and Hyuuga drew closer she imagined this situation slightly different. Of one day Sasuke walking without assistance and with full use of his eyes. Of her belly rounded and her heart beating excitedly the closer he got. With each step, her heart fluttered more and his pale skin got a bit more tan. His lips spread into an uncharacteristically large smile and his eyes turned a brilliant shade of blue. She swallowed thickly, her stomach churning uncomfortably.

"Sasuke-kun." She said as Hinata helped the Uchiha up the porch steps. "Welcome home."

His only reply was a grunt but Sakura didn't mind. It was his usual response to everything. She turned instead to Hinata and flashed the shorter woman a smile.

"I can show you two around if you like. It's not much but-"

"Sakura." Sasuke said flatly. "Leave."

"Uchiha-san." Hinata said warningly but Sasuke ignored her, brushing her hands off of his arm and shuffling further into the house.

Sakura looked at the two ravens, noting the displeasure both of them shared at even being in the same room together. As far as 'other arrangements' went, Kakashi should have chosen someone else to care for Sasuke. His animosity towards Hinata hadn't lessened since the day he'd tried to kill her and she seriously doubted that the relationship between them would improve. Despite the blatant animosity, she was confident that a repeat murder attempt would not happen At the very least it wouldn't be successful since Sasuke would be under the constant surveillance of the Anbu. Not wanting to cause more tension between them, Sakura gave Hinata a shortwave and stepped out the front door.

"His medication is on the kitchen counter. You already know what to do." Sakura said. "I'll try to come by tomorrow during lunch and again after my shift is over to check on him."

"Sakura-san…" Hinata said, a nervous wavering in her voice. "Thank you. I…I'm sorry about Uchiha-san being so cold."

Sakura waved off her apology with a smile but on the inside, she couldn't help but feel sick. Hinata shouldn't be the one apologizing.

' _I_ should.' She thought to herself as she descended from the porch, guilt nibbling at the edges of her conscious.

 **….**

The Hyuuga compound laid silent whether it was day or night. Only the soft sound of light footsteps gliding down the hall or the subtle sliding of a shoji door could occasionally be heard. This was not unusual for the clan but the silence had become increasingly oppressive as of late. It reminded Hanabi of the clan members they'd lost to the war. The silence screamed louder than any of the men she'd encountered on the battlefield. Staring at her older sister's bed stripped bare, she covered her ears with her hands to block out the stifling silence that surrounded her…

… _Hanabi smiled as she quickly moved down the hallways towards her sister's room. Training always put her in a good mood no matter how tiring it could be because it meant that she was getting stronger. Becoming stronger was a top priority. To protect the village…to protect her family…she had to become stronger. Neji was no longer here to protect them so she had to take up the mantle- of which she was more than happy to. It was challenging at times. Her first solo mission had proven as much but there were worse things that could happen. She could lose someone she held dear. She could fail at her mission. The Hyuuga shook her head and rounded the corner. Failure was not an option._

" _Hinata-nee-chan!" Hanabi called as she approached her sister's room and unceremoniously opened the door without knocking. "Do you want to go into-"_

 _Hanabi paused, her smile faltering as she noticed her sister was already looping her arms through a small backpack._

" _Where are you going?" she asked. "Do you have a mission?"_

" _No. Actually Hanabi…I'm leaving." Hinata said softly, her pale eyes shifting towards the floor for the briefest of moments before looking back at her. "We will be making the formal clan announcement for the ceremony soon but I'm getting married."_

" _Married? To Naruto? That was fast. I was only gone for a month-"_

" _No. Not to…Naruto-kun. I'm getting married to Uchiha-san."_

 _Hanabi's eyes widened as distasteful look flitted across her sister's features before she school her face back into its usual perfect mask. Uchiha Sasuke. Traitor to the Leaf. S-class criminal. The last of his clan. Borderline psychopath. Why the hell was Hinata marrying that guy? Her sister and Sasuke had never even spoken to each other before and now they were getting married? How could her father and the elders allow this to happen?_

" _What? Why? Why are you marrying him? Why are you leaving now?" Hanabi asked hurriedly as her sister brushed past her to leave the room. Hanabi followed Hinata down the hall, her own heavy footsteps ringing in her ears._

" _Does father know about this?"_

 _She followed her sister through the compound, ignoring the marked staring from their fellow clan members._

" _Is the Uchiha forcing you to do this?"_

 _Her sister remained silent as she made her way through the maze of halls to the front door. Her back was stiff and always just out of Hanabi's reach._

" _What about Naruto? Have you just given up on him?"_

 _She watched as Hinata put on her shoes and adjusted the backpack on her back. Hanabi stomped her foot in frustration, fists clenched tightly at her side._

" _Hinata!"_

 _At her shout, Hinata finally turned around and smiled at her.  
_

" _Hanabi, I'll be back to help with the ceremony preparations often. Make sure father doesn't work too hard okay?"…._

… _._ "There you are." A deep voice called from the doorway.

Hanabi reluctantly uncovered her ears and turned to face her father. He stood stoically in the doorway, his lips pressed into an almost frown and the wrinkles in his face deepened from months of stress and mourning.

"You were supposed to report to me an hour ago." He said flatly and Hanabi had to stop herself from glaring at him.

"Hinata is gone." She said and her father gave her a curt nod of his head. "She's getting married to the Uchiha."

"Yes."

Hanabi clenched her fists, nails digging in deep enough to draw blood.

"He betrayed the village and you've sent her off to that bastard." She hissed as he father took a few more steps into the newly emptied room.

"Not every decision is an easy one Hanabi." He replied.

"Don't talk to me about easy decisions! I know what is hard and I know what is easy!" Hanabi shouted, no longer able to hold in her anger. Yelling in the Hyuuga compound was frown upon no matter the circumstances. Yelling at the head of the clan, even if he was her father, would be grounds for punishment but she didn't care. "You've sold her off to be a brood mare for the Uchiha! How much did you get huh?! Are we really struggling so much that you would cast aside your own heiress?"

Hanabi stared up at him, her heart pounding loudly in her ears and her palms tingling uncontrollably with chakra just beneath the surface.

"Are you prepared to take the branch seal?" he asked, his voice even and smooth. "Or would you have been happier if Hinata stepped down and took it in your place? Would you have been more satisfied if she served under you for the rest of her days?"

"Father-"

"Or perhaps you wish to take her place and marry the Uchiha?"

The tingling in her palms disappeared and she finally broke from her father's cold gaze. She could still feel his eyes staring at her though, boring holes straight through her skull.

"In order to be a good leader, one must do what is best for the clan with a level head and weigh all options regardless of how we might feel about them." He said as he turned away from her and headed towards the door.

"Your sister understands her duty from this point forward. You are the heiress now. It's time you started acting like it."

 **….**

Hinata frowned as she pulled a simple white nightgown over her head, the edge of which fell down to her ankles. She shuffled over to her bed for the night and tried not to think about the fact that it wasn't _her_ bed. It was the last place in the world she wanted to rest her head. The Uchiha compound was nothing like what she was used to. Sure what was left of the streets had a similar layout to the sprawling expanse of Hyuuga land but their cobblestones had once been stained with blood. No matter how many storms had come and gone, the blood was still embedded in the stone even though it could no longer be seen.

Most of the buildings had fallen into themselves and not even the main house had been left unscathed. Some brave thieves had picked through the rubble for anything they could find of value but for the most part, the possessions of the past still remained buried. The house they were currently in was one of the only usable ones at the moment. It would take years for the Uchiha compound to ever return to its former glory. _If_ it ever returned at all.

Hinata sighed and pulled the thin white sheet over her head. This was all too much to deal with in a day. She closed her eyes and tried to allow sleep to overtake her but her efforts proved fruitless. Even when she rolled over and tried a new position she was still met with nothing. She let out a frustrated huff, blowing her bangs off of her forehead, and staring up at the black ceiling above. Selfishly she allowed her mind to wander instead of staying within the confines of her less than ideal surroundings.

"What is Naruto-kun doing now?" she mumbled to herself.

She blinked up at the ceiling. Was he doing the same thing? Was he sleeping underneath the stars or had he found a hotel for the night? It had only been a little over a week but she anticipated the day that he would return. In a month…maybe two…his bright smile would be back to light up the room. She could already picture the way the corners of his eyes wrinkled when he grinned from ear to ear and how he laughed at the smallest thing. Pressing her fingers lightly against her lips, she blushed as she recalled how warm his lips had felt. What would it have felt like if he'd actually kissed her back?

"Naruto-kun…" she whispered, her voice trailing off sadly into the darkness.

Hinata groaned, covering her face with her hands and rolling over to muffle the sound into her pillow. She had to get over him or at the very least stop thinking about him. Suddenly goosebumps sprouted all over her body and a feeling of dread filled her. A chakra spike and a rather large one at that. Hinata sat up immediately with her Byakugan activated and checked the house for the cause of the disturbance. There was one Anbu stationed on the roof. One was guarding the front door. A little further out she could see one patrolling the inner ring of the Uchiha property but no one seemed to be responsible for the spike.

With a frown she kept her eyes activated and got out of the bed, shivering when her bare feet touched the floor. Just across the hall in the master bedroom was the source of the chakra spike. She reached out to open the door just a crack and peered inside of the dark room. Sasuke was splayed out on the bed, his legs woefully tangled up in his sheets. His pale skin took on an almost luminous appearance as the moonlight shone through the open window and highlighted the thin sheen of sweat.

"Itachi." He sobbed and the desperate aura of his chakra spiked. Hinata's breath caught in her throat as she listened to his groans of pain. "Itachi. Why?"

His chakra spiked once more and she stepped away from the door. Slowly her Byakugan deactivated as she pressed her back up against the wall next to his door.

"Itachi."

She sank down to her knees and hugged them against her chest. The sound of the Uchiha in pain struck a cord that was all too similar. She pressed a trembling hand over her own eyes and willed the unwanted burning sensation of impending tears to stop as waves of chakra washed over her. Her sister's voice echoed in her ears.

" _Hinata."_

"Itachi."

 **..**

The next morning, Hinata sighed as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. The water had been freezing cold since the gas for the house had yet to be cut on but she wasn't going to complain. At least there _was_ running water. The Hokage had put in a request with the utility company to come and turn the gas on but the workers were evidently slow-walking the process. No one wanted to be the first one to set foot near the infamous Uchiha Sasuke.

The Uchiha compound had been allowed to fall into a state of utter disrepair and with the supposed successor of the property branded a traitor, none had sought to set foot on the land. It was land said to be cursed with its streets awash in the blood of innocents. A land that once held mutineers and fostered traitors. It was land that no one wanted…well except for the Hyuuga. The lands that her father and the council had claimed were fertile and unspoiled after being left alone for many years. Some of it would be sold off to developers but the vast majority would remain in Hyuuga hands for its resources and perhaps even expansion in the far future.

The former heiress frowned as she twisted her long dark hair into a braid. The elderly clansmen had been much too ecstatic to get their hands on Sasuke's contract that signed his rights to the land over to them. She sighed again and made sure that the towel was secure around her body. Then she moved to open the door to the tiny bathroom but was met with a grumpy looking Uchiha standing right outside. She blushed in embarrassment at his dark eyes staring unfocused at her, his lips pressed into a tight, disagreeable line.

"Uchiha-san!" She squeaked in surprise as he awkwardly pushed off of the wall he was leaning against.

"I'm hungry." He said.

"Um- I- I-I I'm not able to make anything i-i-immediately -" she embarrassingly stammered out and he raised an eyebrow. "I-I just took a a shower."

"Hn." He grunted, taking a step forward and bending at the waist. His judge of distance was slightly off though, causing the tip of his nose to lightly brush against the curve of her bare shoulder. She jumped in surprise at the contact and he sniffed. His nose wrinkled in disgust. "And you still stink."

Hinata blushed and shuffled back into the bathroom, slamming the door unceremoniously in his face. As she heard his awkward shuffling down the hallway she finally allowed herself to release the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours of living with him and Hinata wasn't quite sure how she'd make it through the rest of her life. Uchiha Sasuke was demanding, patronizing, and insufferable and that was when he was in a good mood.

She sighed and opened the bathroom door again, peeking out to make sure that Sasuke had indeed retreated to another part of the house. Clutching the edge of her towel close to her chest, she let out a breath of relief and scurried down the hall to the spare room she'd claimed for herself. Once there she quickly pulled on her usual sleeveless lavender shirt and shorts that she'd already laid out on her bed. She then wrapped her lavender obi around her waist before leaving the room.

She didn't bother undoing her braid to properly dry her hair. If Sasuke had taken the time to tell her that he was hungry he must be in a rather foul mood. After the fitful night he had she really couldn't blame him. For her own self-perseverance, it was best to make him something quickly than to allow his attitude to fester. It didn't take her long to reach the kitchen where Sasuke was already moodily seated at the dining room table. He didn't acknowledge her when she entered the room.

"Good morning Uchiha-san." She said, trying to push down the anger and embarrassment she felt from their earlier encounter. She didn't bother asking how he slept because they _both_ knew the answer to that question.

When he didn't reply, she turned away from him and began to pull out the things necessary to make breakfast for the two of them. Cereal and milk would be enough for now. Hopefully, by the time she needed to make dinner, the gas would be turned on. She placed the bowl of cereal in front of Sasuke and nudged a silver spoon close to his fingertips so that it would be easier for him to find. She then sat across from him with her own bowl and took a bite. It was awkward eating in the presence of someone who was so quiet. Usually, her clan members would make polite small talk or Hanabi was there to brighten the mood.

'Hanabi.' Hinata thought and her throat tightened as she remembered the sound of how hurt Hanabi had been the day before.

How she'd followed her through the compound demanding answers that she didn't know how to give without crying. Crying was a weakness she could not afford. Across the table Sasuke clumsily fiddled with his spoon, stabbing randomly at air until he was finally able to place it into the bowl. She watched as his eyebrows knitted together in concentration and his frown deepened when he struggled to keep the cereal on his spoon despite how much his hand shook. He lifted the spoon away from the bowl and towards his mouth but it fell onto the table. He repeated the process three times before angrily throwing the spoon onto the table and getting up from his chair which fell to the floor behind him with a loud bang.

"Uchiha-san-" she started to say but he was already shuffling out of the room.

She sighed and placed her own spoon down on the table. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore.

 **….**

"Hey Naruto! I think that this would be a good place to set up camp."

Naruto stopped midway through jumping to another broad tree limb before he got too far ahead of the person who had called out to him. He looked back over his shoulder to see Konohamaru leaning up against a tree and struggling to catch his breath. The blonde couldn't see the boy's other two team member Udon and Moegi but he could feel their chakra signatures were a considerable distance behind them.

"Damn." He chuckled to himself as he placed his hands on his hips. "Was I going too fast for you?"

"Nuh un!" Konohamaru protested despite the clear fatigue he was under. "I'm only saying we stop for the other's sake."

"Hmmm, I don't know if I believe you."

"I could go another ten miles!"

"Well, I could go twenty."

Konohamaru paled at the prospect for a moment but quickly recovered. He turned around, cupping his hands around his mouth, and shouted back towards their delayed companions.

"C'mon guys! Only twenty more miles!"

Naruto laughed and bobbed the younger boy lightly on the head.

"It's almost sunset." He said as he lazily pointed to the clearing in the forest just below them. "Let's set up."

"But I thought you said you could go another twenty miles?"

"What can I say? I'm getting old."

That excuse seemed to be enough to satisfy the boy as he quickly let out a sigh of relief and turned back to go inform the others. He watched Konohamaru's retreating back, a small sense of pride welling within him as he did so. He was still a snot-nosed brat but he'd enjoyed watching him grow over the last few years as a shinobi and a person. He still had _a lot_ of growing up to do but Naruto was excited to see it. Was this how pervy-sage felt?

Rolling his shoulders, he leaped down to the forest floor below. It was probably for the best that they stopped for now. He wasn't the least bit tired but it wouldn't be good if he pushed the kids past their limit. It was just a simple C ranked supply-escort mission after all. As a genin, he would have turned his nose up at such a boring assignment. Although, he distinctly remembered that most of his C-ranked missions as a genin never seemed to stay that way, he had a good feeling that there would be very few hiccups this time. Kakashi had been surprised that he'd been so adamant about inserting himself into such a low ranked mission since he was known to beg for more difficult ones.

Naruto stretched lazily and sat down in the grass, leaning back lazily against a tree as he thought about his past. The constant need to prove himself. The desire for people to notice him. Where had that drive gone? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His mind had been filled with nothing but confusing emotions and nagging questions he couldn't answer. He thought that a mission to Suna would help to clear his thoughts but it only gave him more time to stew in them. At least in Konoha, he was able to distract himself a bit more from his own thoughts and Sasuke would probably be better when he returned from Suna.

Sasuke would be a good outlet for his frustrations since training solo could only do so much. How different would their relationship be after everything that had happened between them? His relationship with Sasuke was not something he could define in words and as with most of the things in his life, it was undoubtedly complicated…

… _.Naruto paused, raising his fist up to knock on Sakura's office door. He knew she was in there. The other nurses had said as much. Some giggled behind their hands and they passed by him stalling in front of her door. Others cast curious side eyes and whispered to one another. Feeling uneasy with the attention he was garnering, he gave up on knocking and let himself into the office anyway. Upon his abrupt intrusion, Sakura immediately looked up from the mountain of papers she'd been rifling through._

" _Naruto?" she asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"_

" _Um, well…" he trailed off, sheepishly scratching the back of his head._

 _He really hadn't thought this through. Why was he there? To tell her about his mission? To say goodbye? To apologize?_

" _Is everything okay? Did Kakashi-sensei send you?" she asked as she stood up from her seat. Naruto waved his hands in front of himself, hoping to convey that nothing was wrong._

" _No, I just have a mission."_

" _A mission." She reiterated softly, her green eyes taking on a twinge of disappointment._

" _Yea…we are going to oversee the transport of supplies from Suna to Konoha."_

" _Oh...how long will you be gone?"_

" _A month, maybe two."_

 _An awkward silence fell between them. As two people who usually sucked all of their air out of the room, they didn't know how to deal with silence. Grasping at straws, he opened his mouth to speak but she'd already beat him to it.  
_

" _Naru-"_

" _Abou-"_

 _Naruto chuckled as he shoved his hands into his pockets._

" _You go first." He suggested and she shook her head._

" _No you."_

" _No you."_

 _Sakura huffed at him, puffing out her cheeks and narrowing her eyes in frustration. Even though he knew that he was irritating her he couldn't but think she looked cute like that._

" _Well, uh you left some of your things at my place-" he started and Sakura's irritation quickly melted away into embarrassment._

" _Oh, I was just about to ask you about that. I can go pick them up if you're not leaving the village immediately."_

" _Actually I came to give you this." He replied, digging into his left pocket for the only key to his apartment. Sakura looked between him and the key curiously, unsure of whether to take it or not. "It really is easier to get here from my apartment. You can stay there until I get back."_

" _Naruto…I-I can't-" she protested but he shook his head and grabbed her right hand. He placed the key into her open palm and curled her fingers around it.  
_

" _It's better than sleeping at your desk or in a bar."_

 _He then let go of her hand, immediately regretting the loss as soon as it was gone._

" _Anyway, I need to get going. When you see Sasuke, tell him I said 'don't be such a bastard' okay?" he said with a smile and turned around to the door._

 _Sakura stiffened at the sound of Sasuke's name and an uncomfortable feeling nagged at the back of his mind. He knew immediately that it was jealousy since it had been a constant companion when they were still a team. Back when he had no qualms about shouting his affection for Sakura from the rooftops because that was the only way she'd hear him and even then it wasn't like she was listening. Even now just the mere mention of Sasuke's name had her looking just as flustered as she had when they were children. He sighed as he twisted the doorknob and stepped out of the tiny office._

" _Naruto wait!" Sakura shouted and the man in question turned to look at her in surprise._

 _She smiled brightly at him with one of her thumbs held up to him._

" _If you get hurt for being an idiot, I'll hurt you more when you get back."…._

….. Naruto opened his eyes and blinked up at the dabbled light that shone through the green canopy above him. He hated the fact that she'd said that. He hated the fact that it made him want to kiss her. He hated the fact that he couldn't. He shouldn't. He wouldn't. He'd been stupid for doing such a thing in the first place. Sakura only had eyes for Sasuke. That was the way it had been since they were children. He should be with someone that cared for him just as deeply. Someone who had sacrificed so much just for him to look her way. Wide, pale eyes danced across his mind and brought him back to a future he knew he had.

A future with Hinata.

 **…..**

The sun was hanging lower in the sky as Hinata walked through the empty streets of the Uchiha property. She'd been wandering around her new home for most of the day and she'd still only been able to see a small fraction of the land, not that there was much to look at. The gravel that was composed of broken glass and rubble crunched underneath her feet as she aimlessly continued forward. Wild grass and vines had overtaken many of the buildings that had fallen in on themselves, covering them in a dark green quilt.

It was a stark contrast to the Hyuuga compound with its carefully manicured gardens, well laid out paths, and pristine homes. There was no one to politely nod to or children scurrying underfoot. Everything and everyone was gone. As she walked she closed her eyes, relishing the feel of the sun on her skin, and tried to imagine the Hyuuga compound in a similar state. She tried to picture the gardens uprooted and the roofs of her family members homes missing. Her heart twisted as she tried to imagine what it would feel like to enter the main house and everything being deserted. Gone. Everyone gone. The pain of losing so many of her clan members…the pain of losing Neji…would have increased tenfold.

At least the Hyuuga were not gone. Though their numbers had dwindled they still had the possibility to rebuild. Everyone had lost something in the war but because of the sacrifice of others, the living had a chance. They all had a chance to try again.

" _I want you to try again."_

Those had been the Hokage's words to Sasuke. Try again. It sounded simple enough but beneath those two words was a mountain of adversity. How was he supposed to try again when he'd lost everything? How was he supposed to try again when he didn't want to? It was hard to succeed at something when you didn't even want to do it. Hinata opened her eyes as the crunching sound of gravel ended and the rushing of wind and grass filled her ears.

She looked around, surprised at the expansive sea of overgrown grass that laid before her. The long blades moved back and forth, shades of emerald and jade waving up to the sky. Hinata looked back over her shoulder at the crumbling wasteland behind her. Even though the sun was shining brightly it still looked cold and gray. When she turned back the sky above was blue. Hinata stepped into the tall grass, the blades of which tickled her legs as she walked.

She felt a lot lighter out here away from the rubble. Away from the sadness. If only she were able to bring this feeling back with her. If Sasuke were able to feel the sun's warmth like this would his mood lighten? Even if it was only by a little bit it would be worth it. Anything would be better than living with him as he was now. Hinata sighed as she sank down into the grass and laid flat on her back. She closed her eyes and relished the warmth that radiated from the sun's rays on her skin.

''Tomorrow.'' She said to herself. ''I'll bring him out tomorrow.''

'But what if he doesn't want to come?' a little voice in the back of her head asked.

She frowned at the thought knowing all the while that it was a likely outcome. Sasuke wanted very little to do with her even though their attachment bought him his 'freedom'. She had to try though. So many people wanted him in their lives. So many people were counting on her to keep him here. She had to try. She just had to.

 **…..**

 _"Mother?"_

 _He desperately shouted into an expansive silence but was met with nothing but the sound of his own voice._

 _"Father?"_

 _The buildings from his childhood stood tall, splatterings of blood painted the exterior walls. He tried to not look because if he did the trail of blood led straight to the prone body of his clansmen._

 _Aunts._

 _Uncles._

 _Cousins._

 _Dead. They were all dead. Would he be next? Who had done this? Why? Why? Why?!_

 _"Itachi! Please help me!"_

 _His brother would know what to do. Even without their mother and father around, Itachi always knew what to do. He could count on his big brother._

 _"Itachi!" he shouted._

 _He rounded the corner down the path that he knew to be his home, his foot splashing in a puddle of blood. Blood that was still warm and ran thickly back down the side of his leg._

 _"Itachi!"_

 _"Uchiha-san!"_

 _The voice that called out to him didn't belong to his brother. In fact, he was positive that he'd never heard it before but it felt vaguely familiar._

 _"Uchiha-san!"_

 _His house was only a few feet away. His home was safe. It's where his mother and father were waiting for him. It's where his older brother would protect him._

 _"Uchiha-san!"_

 _However, the pull of the voice calling out to him was strong and in the opposite direction. He tried to ignore it. He tried to run away but each step he took forward sent his home a few feet back. No matter how hard he pushed his home kept getting further and further away. He reached out, the darkness in the periphery of his vision growing darker with each breath he took. Desperately, he stretched out his hand to reach for his home that was becoming increasingly blurry. It was no use. His fingers were left reaching out to nothing but darkness. The smell of blood was gone and in its_ place _he was suffocated by lavender._

Sasuke gasped, struggling to catch his breath.

"Uchiha-san." The voice from within his dream called out and he stiffened at the sound.

It was so close. Too close.

"Uchiha-san, it's me." The voice whispered gently and slowly he was able to place who it belonged to.

Hyuuga Hinata, the most pitiful woman in the world.

"Why-" he asked as he took a shallow breath. "Why are you in here."

"You were having a nightmare." She replied.

Sasuke grunted. That wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory. A real memory that he'd been forced to live through time and time again. Slender fingers gently ran themselves through his hair but when he tried to move away he found that his limps felt much too heavy. It his lungs burned as if he had run a marathon and his throat was uncomfortably raw. All he wanted to do was sleep but every time he closed his eyes he saw dead bodies. The bodies of his clansmen. The bodies of the countless men and women he had killed in his quest to become stronger. Being here among the disgraced bones of his former home only made things worse. Being in Konoha made things worse.

"I have nightmares sometimes too." She said softly, allowing some of his hair to fall through her fingers.

His eyes grew heavy and his tongue felt too big for his mouth. This stupid woman. How dare she try to feel sorry or relate to him. What did she know anyway? She still had her clan. She still had her sanity…her sight. He frowned as his eyelids drooped from her fingers returning to his hair and his exhaustion took over.

"I don't need your pity."

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming an Obsession**


	7. Becoming Accustomed

**CCNote:** **Hey y'all! Thanks for all of the love and support for this story! Y'all are awesome. Someone pointed out that I've been referring to the Uchiha property improperly and I can't believe I made that slip. From here on it will be called the Uchiha District. I'll go back and make the necessary changes to previous chapters later!**

 **Anywho, I changed the title of this chapter because I felt it more appropriate. Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Accustomed**

The darkness was the same whether his eyes were open or shut and waking up was no different from falling asleep. Sometimes, if it was quiet enough and if he was very still, he couldn't be sure of what state he was in. Right now, however, he was positive that he was awake. The soft mumbling of Hinata sleeping next to him was enough of a signal to tell him that. Well, that and the fact that with each small exhale, her warm breath was brushed against his collarbone. He tried to move away from her but her fingers clutched the front of his shirt and she buried her nose in his chest.

'Stupid woman.' He thought.

He had no sympathy for the fact that she was sleeping. She should have never entered his room in the first place. It was none of her business if he was having a nightmare or not. Frowning, he removed his arm that had gotten wedged between them. She had no right to witness him in such a state. She had no right to his weakness. With his hand now free he fumbled with trying to remove her hands from his shirt. It was too hot for her to be so close to him. Did she not feel stifled like he did? When his attempts at removing her hands didn't work, he trailed his hand down her wrist to her elbow and up to her shoulder to push her away. All the while he noted that her voice was not the only soft part of her. Everything about this woman was soft and pliable. Those were features a good kunoichi should not possess. No wonder the Hyuuga were trying to get rid of such a weak woman.

"Mmm.." she groaned when he pushed on her shoulder, the action causing her to finally wake up.

If she slept this deeply she would be a liability on the battlefield. Yet _another_ reason to get rid of her. The bed creaked as she sat up and finally released him.

"You're finally awake." He growled and he sat up as well.

Even though she was no longer trying to mold herself into him it was still impossibly hot. His skin felt sticky and the humid air made it difficult for him to breathe.

"Uchiha-san!" she squeaked as she shifted further away from him, pulling the sheets with her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her and kicked away the sheets that had gotten tangled up around his legs. What the hell did this woman have to be embarrassed about? Her modesty? It wasn't like he could _see_ her anyway. Even if he _could_ he still wouldn't be interested. Since her clan was willing to part with her, contract or not, she couldn't be much of a looker. Despite the fact that she was a subpar kunoichi, if her face was good enough, they could have gotten a decent deal by marrying her into a lesser clan. Either she was ugly or the Hyuuga were too prideful to marry her off to the Akimichi or the Inuzuka.

"Um- h-h-how did you sleep?" she stammered as he moved the opposite edge of the bed.

He ignored her inquiry in favor of pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it away to some random spot in the room. It was still too damn hot. He stood up, holding his hands out as a guide. From what he could remember, the window wasn't very far away from the bed. He should be able to reach it relatively easily but he was coming up with nothing but air.

"A-a-are you hungry?" she asked.

Sasuke furrowed his brow but continued to ignore her. He was hungry but not enough to let her feed him again or to embarrass himself like he had the previous morning. With a few shuffling steps he reached the window, the glass felt cool beneath his fingertips and held the promise of relief from the heat. He ran his fingers over the glass, searching to find purchase against a hook or a lever to open the window. When there was none to be found he had to mentally restrain himself from punching through the glass. Even within his own 'home' he was constantly reminded of the fact that he was a prisoner.

"Uchiha-san…" Hinata she started. His upper lip curled as he heard her approach, his back tensing when she got too close. "Do you want to go outside?"

"I am not a dog Hyuuga." He snapped and she took a step back.

"I know that…it just…it just looks like you want to."

"Whatever." He sighed, turning away from the useless window.

She took a few steps towards him, her fingers brushed lightly against his elbow. He wanted to push her fingers away. He wanted to yell. He wanted to disappear. Yet he kept his mouth shut and settled for the only thing he could get right now. Fresh air. He didn't bother to pick up his shirt as she led him out of the room and she didn't stop to say she needed to change her clothes. Their trek through the house was slow and silent but once the front door opened, a light breeze blew into the house. Outside was warm, even warmer than his bedroom, but it didn't feel as overwhelming as when he was confined.

The sound of gravel crunched under their feet as Hinata led him further and further away from the house. He wasn't quite sure how far they were going to walk but with every step, he hoped they never stopped. Each step away from his decrepit prison was a step closer to some semblance of freedom. Despite the fact that he was a lot taller than she was, Hinata was a good guide through the wreckage of his district and seemed to know where she was going. Had she taken this route before? She made no remarks during their walk and he probably would have forgotten that she was even by his side if it weren't for the fact that she gingerly held his forearm to lead him.

After twenty minutes of walking the sound of gravel was replaced by an odd swishing sound. It was a much more welcome sensation to his ears. They walked only a bit farther before Hinata stopped entirely and let go of him. She took a step away from him and let out a small sigh. He walked away from her and she didn't follow. He blinked, turning his head up to the sun, expecting to find a blue sky above him. Instead, he was met with darkness. To the left was nothing, the right was nothing. No matter where he turned or how far he walked the darkness remained the same. He frowned and turned back to where he imagined Hinata to still be, his shoulders slumped and a nagging sense of helplessness in the back of his mind.

"Uchiha-san." She called out to him, surprisingly not as far away as he'd thought she'd been. "Most of the Uchiha District is unusable right now."

"So?" he mumbled, too tired to put more force behind the irritation he felt.

"I don't think that trying to rebuild it is possible." She said and Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his pajama bottoms.

It wasn't like he actually wanted to 'try again' as Kakashi desired him to. The Uchiha clan as it had been before the massacre was rotting from the inside out for decades. He did not wish to continue that legacy. Even if he did have that desire to revive his clan his children would undoubtedly be met with suspicion and mistrust by the rest of the village and the cycle would continue once more.

"However, maybe…maybe we could try something new."

"Something…new" he mumbled, unsure of where she was going with this. "Why?"

Her voice was soft, softer than it was usually, and easily carried off by the wind. Yet…he heard every word as clearly as if she had yelled them.

"Because this will be my home too."

Sasuke grunted and shuffled past the strange woman. Which was worse? To be stupid or to be naive? This place was would not be her home. This place was his prison and she just had the misfortune of joining him.

'Stupid woman.'

 **…...**

"Your heart sounds strong Sasuke-kun." Sakura noted as she pressed the cold metal of her stethoscope up against the center of his chest. "That's good."

Sasuke grunted at her observation and she removed her stethoscope from her ears. It wasn't a point of flattery for her to say that his heart was strong. It was the truth. She'd been there when his heart had stopped beating on her operating table. She'd seen his life nearly slip through her fingers. Hearing his heart sound strong and steady now filled her with a sense of hope. Picking up her clipboard from the kitchen table, she noted the beats per minute she'd counted before turning back to the Uchiha.

"You are progressing better than I expected. I think that you should be able to do light periods of exercise soon. Kakashi-sensei might even give you permission to train after that." She said as Hinata entered the room with a tray of tea. Sakura smiled at the dark-haired woman as she placed the tray down and poured a cup for each of them. "You didn't have to make me tea Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled and presented the small cup to her. Her movements were graceful as would be expected of someone of a noble clan. She'd been trained from birth to be the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect clan leader. As Sakura accepted her offering she couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable sense of inferiority.

"It's the least I can do."

"Well thank you."

She watched as Hinata placed the second cup of tea next to Sasuke's hand and his fingers brushed against the rim, the tips of which accidentally touched the tea within. Without saying anything about his mistake, the Hyuuga took his hand into her own and placed it properly on the cup's handle. It was such a small gesture, one that she would have missed if she hadn't been paying attention, but for some reason, it hurt. Pushing aside her feelings she brought her cup to her lips and took a sip. The tea was the perfect temperature, not too hot as to scald but warm enough to spread a comfortable feeling through her veins. The taste was smooth and simple without a hint of sweetness, something that only a tea connoisseur could appreciate. Sakura bit back a frown and placed her cup on the table.

'Even her tea is perfect.' She thought but smiled at Hinata when she bowed and took her leave from the room.

"Hinata-chan is taking good care of you huh Sasuke-kun?" she asked in a half-teasing, half-probing manner.

"Hn." He shrugged and slowly brought his cup to his lips.

"The tea is good, isn't it? It's a little too hot today for tea though."

Once more he remained silent and Sakura looked down at her lap, grasping at straws to come up with something to talk about. For years she'd dreamed about sitting at a table just like this one and talking to Sasuke. She'd replayed their imaginary conversations in her head countless times as she wished for him to return to the village. Why was it so hard to talk to him now? She didn't have any trouble talking to him before when Naruto was around. Nervously she reached for her tea and took a large sip just to give herself something to do.

"I don't know if I could make tea this good." She joked, jumping slightly when Sasuke set his cup on the table with more force than he'd probably intended to.

"Is your examination finished or will you continue to talk about the merits of tea?" he asked flatly. Sakura blushed and pushed her tea away.

"I should go." She said softly and rose from the table.

Sasuke continued drinking, unfazed by her sudden departure. Unconsciously her fists clenched at her sides with a burgeoning sense of embarrassment and failure

"Sakura?" Hinata called out as she reemerged from the kitchen with a tray of steamed buns. "Are you leaving already? Is everything okay?"

'God, why does she have to be so perfect?' Sakura thought and began packing up her bag.

She knew that she shouldn't feel this way. Hinata had only done what she and Naruto had asked her to. Sasuke wouldn't be awake if it wasn't for her and in spite of her initial misgivings it appeared as though she was taking good care of him. She was certainly doing a better job than she could have done if their positions were switched. So why did she feel like so sick when she watched them together? Sakura shook her head of the thought and stuffed her pens into her bag. Across from her, Hinata placed the tray she'd been holding on the table, her pale eyes boring holes of concern into the side of her skull.

"Everything is fine Hinata-chan, I just need to get back to the hospital. A few of the nurses are out from chakra exhaustion so we are even more short-staffed than normal." She said and slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "Thank you for the tea."

"Wait…um I…I need to talk to you."

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, can it wait until my next visit?" Sakura asked.

Hinata's brows knitted together and lips parted to protest but in the end, she said nothing. Sasuke, on the other hand, appeared unfazed by the growing tension in the room and reached for the tray of buns Hinata had brought. The Hyuuga's pale eyes tore away from her own as she sensed Sasuke's need and placed one of the buns into his hand. Her own eyes burned as she watched the transaction and she swallowed thickly.

"I'll see you soon." She said, her voice tight. "Don't forget that there will be a demolition crew coming in a week to clear away what you don't want."

"Thank you for organizing that for us." Hinata replied and Sakura turned to leave the room.

"It's the least I could do."

Quicker than she probably should have, she took her leave of the house without allowing Hinata walk her out. Sasuke didn't even bother to stop her.

 **…...**

"What is this?"

"A part of a sign I believe."

"Trash."

Hinata nodded as she held open a large plastic bag for Sasuke to toss a broken wooden sign in. The Uchiha fan had been engraved into the front of it but a large chunk of whatever information it held was missing. Sasuke had only brushed his finger across it for a moment before deciding that it too was trash just like all of the other things they'd come across. Dutifully she followed behind him as he aimlessly walked around the wreckage of the district, handing him random items from the ground so that he could decide what to do with them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small piece of navy cloth jutting out between a pile of rocks. She scurried over to collect the article, surprised to find that when she pulled it out it was an old shirt similar to the one Sasuke had worn in the academy. It was covered in dirt, the white part of the fan had taken on a more gray color, and it was much too small to have belonged to Sasuke at the time of the massacre. With a heavy heart, she brought the article of clothing back to Sasuke who held it in both of his hands.

"This shirt belonged to a child." She said softly.

Sasuke's brow furrowed as he brushed away some of the dirt and frowned.

"Trash."

She held open the bag and the shirt fell down to the depths of the rest of the discarded items. Sasuke held no sentimentality for most of the things that they'd found. He preferred to be rid of the personal effects of his clan members than to hang onto to them. Some might have called the practice insensitive but Hinata found it to be a bit cathartic for him. Uchiha Sasuke was a very angry person who seemed to thrive off of being in control. By sorting through the rubble, he was the king of a trash heap. He got to decide what stayed- which wasn't much- and what went. It didn't make him a nicer person but his mood did seem to lift a little bit. In any case, it was easier to handle him after he'd tired himself out and it gave her something to do.

Hinata huffed as she adjusted the increasingly heavy trash bag and ran to catch up to the Uchiha who'd wandered further up the abandoned main street. He stood just outside of what had once been a rather old house. The roof had caved into the house and half of the windows were shoddily boarded up. The windows that weren't were cracked from rocks that had been thrown into them. Sasuke stood just outside of the waist height gate to the house, his fingers running over a metal plate engraved with the Uchiha name. The plate banged loosely against the fence when he touched it and the ringing disturbed the crows that were nesting in a nearby tree. They cawed in irritation and flapped their wings to go off in search of a quieter area. Sasuke's fingers curled around the placard before he pulled it clean off of the railing.

"Trash." He said but Hinata hesitated to open the bag. He looked over his shoulder, albeit in the wrong direction, and glared. "Trash."

Hinata bit her bottom lip and opened the trash bag. At the sound of rustling, he scoffed, turned his head in the right direction, and tossed the metal placard into the trash. He then shuffled away from the house and headed back up the main street. Hinata looked down into the trash bag at the recently discarded item. The burnished copper plate was slightly warped from being yanked off of the fence but the Uchiha name engraved on it still looked proudly back up at her.

Pressing her lips together into a tight line she reached into the trash bag and fished the plate out. Once it was retrieved she reached back in for the child's shirt. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with the items. She knew that rationally they were better off being thrown away but somehow it didn't feel right. Starting anew didn't mean erasing the past no matter how ugly it might be. Someone had to remember what had happened. Once they tore everything down. Once they'd gotten rid of every single last brick and bone. Someone had to remember… _she_ would remember.

 **…...**

One week was all they had to claim whatever items they wanted to from the remnants of the Uchiha district. One week to sort through a near decade of dirt and stone to recover parts of his clan's legacy. Hinata looked over at where the Uchiha was seated at the kitchen table, his back stiff and his eyes trained on the wood in front of him. She clutched the tray of dishes tightly and walked over to him.

In the end, it had only taken four days for them to make their rounds and he'd decided to keep nothing. She, on the other hand, had picked up a handful of items. An old journal, fat and brittle from being waterlogged by storms. A tarnished locket she couldn't open now laid on her dresser in her room. She'd washed the child's shirt they'd found and placed the old Uchiha placard next to the locket on her dresser. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing. Sasuke would have preferred she kept nothing and would probably be angry with her if he discovered that she was keeping such things.

As she placed the dishes down in front of him a small smile began to form. It didn't take much to make Sasuke angry but with his current state, he was all bark and no bite as her former teammate Kiba would say. To his immediate left, she placed a bowl of rice and worked her way towards his right in a semi-circle. First his rice, then a small bowl of fermented vegetables, a plate of grilled fish, and finally a simple bowl of miso soup. She then grabbed his right hand, placed a fork inside of it, and brought his hand around to tap each item.

"Miso." She said, guiding his hand to gently tap the edge of the bowl. "Fish, vegetables, rice."

He didn't reply to her information or even give an indication that he heard her. She knew that he had though and turned away to go eat her own food within the privacy of the kitchen. She didn't _have_ to leave but Sasuke was a prideful man who was very much like the men in her clan. Someone seeing them struggle only made things worse. When she was out of the direct line of sight from the kitchen table she paused and listened.

It took a few moments, and several sharp stabs at the table, but soon she heard the sound of his fork clinking against his dishes. Hinata smirked and proceeded towards the kitchen island that held her own premade plate. She happily dug into her own fish, proud of the fact that she'd been able to grill the fish exactly to her liking, and listened to the sound of Sasuke's fork scrapping against the sides of his bowl. He wouldn't ask for seconds but she knew he liked something if he tried to eat every last bit. Without a word, she returned to the kitchen table and gathered his empty dishes to refill them with a second helping. When she returned, she placed the items back in the same spot and scurried away. This time it didn't take as long for him to find them.

'And people say that the Hyuuga are arrogant.' She thought with a small smile, mildly amused by her own observation.

She didn't mind his pride as much as she thought she would though. When the demolition team came tomorrow, of everything he'd lost and everything he'd gotten rid of, his pride was the only thing he had left.

 **…...**

"Thank you very much for all of your hard work."

'Stupid woman.'

Sasuke's upper lip curled as he listened to Hinata hand their leftovers off to whoever was currently working watch duty. Why was she rewarding his wardens? Those masked lap dogs could starve at their post for all he cared. His mental grumbling of dissatisfaction must have reached the Hyuuga's ears because she gasped in surprise to find him behind her. She truly was an inept kunoichi.

"Uchiha-san!" she squeaked. "It's really late, what are you still doing up?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't want to say. He shouldn't _have_ to say it. He waited a moment, the awkward silence hung thickly between them, before the Hyuuga let out a small 'oh' of understanding.

'Stupid woman.' He thought as she placed a gentle hand on his elbow and led him away.

He focused on the sound of her small feet padding down the hall towards his bedroom. He heard her turn on a light, not that it made any difference to him, and turn down the sheets on the bed as she usually did. He waited semi-patiently for her to finish before shuffling over to the bed himself and lying in it.

"Will you be okay on your own tonight Uchiha-san?" she asked, her voice shaking like it always did when she asked him this question.

Sasuke said nothing, preferring to stare up at the ceiling because he shouldn't have to say anything. He _wouldn't_ say anything. She paused, her weight shifting from one small foot to the other, before crawling into the bed with him. They could fit another person between them but he knew that the distance wouldn't last for long. No matter how insufferably hot it got at night, Hinata always found a way to reach him in her sleep.

'Stupid woman.'

He hated the fact that she laid beside him every night. He hated the fact that she nearly suffocated him in his sleep every night. He hated the fact that the nightmares remained at bay when she was near. Most of all he hated the fact that couldn't say no…that he couldn't take the repeated imagery of his clansmen slain in the streets of his home. The sight of his brother dying at his feet and the wails of mercy from the people caught in the crossfire during his path for revenge. His frown deepened as he closed his eyes and tried to will himself to go to sleep, Hinata's breathing slowly evening out beside him.

"Goodnight Uchiha-san."

Sasuke frowned and rolled over so that his back was facing her. There was nothing 'good' about this night but at least he wouldn't dream.

 **….**

 ** _To be continued_ …** **Becoming a Tradition I**


	8. Becoming a Tradition I

**CCNote: Happy Sunday! Because y'all seem to like this story so much, here's an update. Please enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Tradition I**

There were many reasons why she'd decided to become a medic. She wanted to become useful. She wanted to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke who always seemed to be light years ahead of her. She wanted…she wanted to be noticed. All of those selfish reasons had been what gave her her start but they did little to sustain her drive. For someone to continue to thrive in this kind of grueling environment that needed something more substantial. Fortunately, there was not a day that went by that left her feeling unfulfilled with her chosen career path.

"Alright now hold still." Sakura instructed the little blonde in front of her.

The girl couldn't have been more than eight or nine with fat tears streaming down her cheeks. Beside her, a blonde boy that she could only presume to be her older brother held her left hand tightly. Hesitantly the girl held out her arm which was trembling from fear and pain, sucking in a sharp breath when Sakura touched her.

"Hey watch it lady!" the little boy snapped. "You're hurting her."

"It will only hurt for a little while." Sakura assured him but he didn't look too convinced.

Tearing attention away from the boy she focused on healing his sister's sprained wrist. A soft green chakra enveloped her hands, slowly smoothing away the pain from her injury. The girl gasped at the sensation and marveled at the green light.

"Wow!" she said and her brother scurried around to get a closer look.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"It kind of tickles."

"Hey lady how are you able to do that?"

'Through lots of sleepless nights.' She thought before simply smiling and shaking her head.

"Try moving your wrist." Sakura said.

The little girl looked nervous at first but gingerly she rotated her wrist, quickly becoming ecstatic that she was now pain-free.

"That's so cool!" the boy said and the little girl nodded her head in agreement.

"Now that you're all better make sure you play more carefully from now on." Sakura said and the pair nodded before scrambling out of the room, nearly knocking into a nurse as she entered the room.

"Sakura-san, you're needed in room 416." The nurse said and handed her a chart.

The pink haired woman sighed as she noted the name at the top of the chart. Rock Lee. This was the third time this month he'd been admitted to the hospital. When was he going to learn moderation? Shaking her head she left the room, ready to tackle the next fifteen cases that came her way.

Later that night, Sakura peeled off her white lab coat and shuffled tiredly over to a bed she'd claimed as her own for the last few weeks. She let out a huff as she threw herself face first onto the bed which creaked and groaned under her weight. As she buried her face in the blankets she took a deep breath, inadvertently noting that their usual smell was fading. Naruto's old, crumbling apartment had quickly become a source of refuge in her hectic life. It wasn't the same as when he was there but it was better than being at home where her parents asked her millions of questions or falling asleep at her desk.

She knew that she should probably look into getting her own apartment. There were many new housing developments cropping up every day but it wasn't like she made enough money to move into one. The hospital was struggling under the weight of the patients that were constantly rolling through every day. It was all they could do to keep themselves afloat. Asking for an increase in pay was just out of the question. Burying her face even further into her pillow she took a deep breath and allowed the stressors of the day to ease out of her body.

'Naruto.' She thought as she rolled over onto her back and stared up at the cracks in the cement ceiling. 'How much longer will you be away?'

She'd never admit it to anyone breathing but with each passing week, she found herself missing her former teammate more and more. It had only been three and a half weeks. Naruto had been away from the village for much longer stretches of time but this one felt more difficult to get through. She blinked up at the ceiling, a small frown on her face. Work kept her busy enough so it wasn't like she was bored. Perhaps it was the fact that she was half expecting him to barge into her office begging her to go eat ramen with him. His loud voice and boyish antics were sorely missed by the other nurses who were eager to see their favorite patient again. He really needed to hurry up and finish his mission so that she would stop having to field questions about where he was and when he was getting back. Sakura sighed and pulled the covers up over her head and tried to will herself to go to sleep. Not only did she have a lot of work to do in the morning but she also had to see Sasuke in the afternoon. If she kept dwelling on Naruto she'd never get any rest.

 **….**

It was barely before noon but the sun was already beaming harshly in the sky. Not a single cloud provided a reprieve from the sun's rays, the expansive blue canvas seemingly infinite. Hinata let out a small sigh as finished filling up her watering can from the kitchen sink and walked out to the backyard. In the center of the yard was a rather determined looking Uchiha kneeling in the dirt with a green plastic shovel. His shirt laid abandoned in a forgotten sweaty ball on the porch and sweat rolled down his pale skin freely.

Hinata was positive that this was not what Sakura had meant when she said Sasuke would be able to engage in light exercise but the man seemed to have no understanding of the word 'light'. The list of approved activities for him to do involved what many would call 'fun' or 'relaxing'. One of those activities just so happened to be gardening and once convinced of the merits of not having to go into the village center to buy produce, the Uchiha was on board with it. Unfortunately…he was a little _too_ on board. Hinata frowned as she looked at the rather large hole he'd dug in the backyard and shook her head. Uchiha Sasuke might be one of the most feared shinobi in the world but he was almost inept when it came to more civilian like tasks…

…" _What about this one?" she asked, placing a bright red tomato in his hand._

 _His brow furrowed as he carefully analyzed the fruit, pressing his fingers against its fragile red skin. After a moment he handed it back and shook his head._

" _Too soft." He said and Hinata sighed and put the tomato back with the others._

 _That was the seventh rejected tomato. It was barely past dawn but the grocery store was going to fill up with people soon and she didn't want to be around when it did. They really needed to hurry up and get their things before more people than necessary noticed them together. If she'd known Sasuke was going to be this difficult she would have just gone alone! Pressing her lips together in the tight line, she handed him another tomato only for it to be rejected again._

" _Too firm."_

 _Hinata frowned and handed him another one. He held it for less than two seconds before shaking his head and returning it to her._

" _No."_

" _Uchiha-san, produce is limited right now." She said glancing at the paltry pile of tomatoes on display._

" _Then don't buy any from here." He replied simply and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Go somewhere else."_

 _Hinata opened her mouth to retort but swallowed her words. There was nowhere else to go. Until Naruto returned from his escort mission the entire village would be running low on not only basic household necessities but also fresh produce. It was unfortunate that they had to rely on the charity of their allies but harvest from the fields was still a long ways away. She shook her head and placed the tomato back with the other rejects. She then shifted her basket on her arm and was about to step away when something caught her eye. Just below the display of tomatoes was a small shelf of seeds. The selection was small with only cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots as options but she grabbed one of each and tossed them into her basket._

" _Uchiha-san, have you ever had a garden?" she asked and the Uchiha lazily cocked his head to the side._

" _Do I look like a man who had time for such a thing?" he countered._

 _Hinata bit her lip and lowered her gaze. No…Uchiha Sasuke was most certainly not a man who had time for something simple like a garden. After the massacre, childish activities like gardening were probably not on his list of priorities. She looked back up at the slouched man before her, taking in the tired pallor of his skin and unruliness of his hair. He never got to be a child at least not for long and as a result, it made him into a bitter, emotionally stunted adult._...

…."Uchiha-san." She said as she placed the watering can on the ground at her feet. "Um, I think that's enough digging."

Behind her, there was a slight rustling that alerted her to the presence of someone else. She turned in the direction of the sound to see one of her clan members approaching her, their blemish-free yukata a stark contrast to the wreckage of the Uchiha District. As they drew closer she ran a hand over her own clothing, noting all of the wrinkles and dirt she'd obtained from working in the yard. Her father would surely disapprove of the state she was currently in. Next to her Sasuke tensed and rose to stand upright to his full height. The man hesitated for a half step in their approach but bowed before both of them.

"Hinata-sama." He said when he rose from his bow. "Hiashi-sama requests your presence tonight for dinner."

"Me?" Hinata replied, momentarily confused as to what her father would want with her. The man nodded, warily throwing glances at the shirtless Uchiha towering behind her.

"Yes, you and the…Uchiha."

"Oh." Hinata whispered under her breath. "Oh!"

She'd been so preoccupied caring for Sasuke that she'd completely forgotten the protocol that she needed to follow in order to fulfill their marriage contract. Formal statements needed to be drafted and announced. Invitations would have to be created and mailed as soon as possible and at least a dozen other things had to be organized. Signing the marriage contract had only been the first step, one that felt ephemeral if she didn't think about it for too long. This dinner would be the second step, one that would solidify the agreement and make it real. Hinata turned her head slightly to the right and looked back at the dirty, sweaty man behind her who couldn't dig a proper hole. This was the man that would soon be her husband.

"I have left a package for you at the front door. Please arrive at the compound no later than seven, Hinata-sama." The messenger said, breaking her from her thoughts. Hinata nodded as they bowed to signal their departure, all the while a nervous feeling settling into the pit of her stomach.

 **…...**

"That's the last of it." A foreman called out as the sun set behind him.

Naruto smiled as he watched the flurry of efficient activity through the open window of the Kazekage's office. More than two dozen of his own clones scurried along with the citizens of Suna carrying boxes of vitally needed supplies that they needed to take with them. Large pallets of goods were being hauled onto wagons and made a sense of comfort wash over him. Tomorrow they would head back to Konoha with a fleet of supplies and manpower and while Suna was nice, he couldn't wait to get back to his home. The dry air and sandy terrain of the desert just were not his cup of tea. It took a week to get to Suna but it would take much longer to get back to Konoha with a caravan of supplies trailing behind him. Pushing away from the window he couldn't help but feel anxious about his return.

"Thanks for your help Gaara." Naruto said, turning back to the red-headed Kazekage

Gaara looked up from the paperwork he was buried under and nodded his head.

"I'd expect the same from Konoha if my people were in need." He replied. "In any case, Temari has been looking for an excuse to return to Konoha."

"Huh?" Naruto said, a bit taken aback by what Gaara's sister might want to do in Konoha. "Temari is joining the workers?"

Gaara let out a slow deep breath through his nose and leaned back in his chair, his green eyes hinting at an amusing thought that only he was privy to.

"It appears as though my sister has found something in Konoha that isn't a complete waste of her time."

"Something?"

"More like _someone."_

Naruto scratched his chin, running through a list of people that someone like Temari would be interested in. They had to be someone that could keep up with someone as bossy as she was and could take her sharp tongue in stride. Temari of the Sand village was known to the world as a rather formidable kunoichi, one glance from her had sent many lesser men shaking where they stood. He couldn't imagine any of the people he knew in Konoha being up to the task of handling someone like her.

"I wish the poor bastard the best of luck." Naruto said finally with a shrug of his shoulders and Gaara's lips twitched into an almost smile.

The blonde shoved his hands in his pockets, part of him excited to see who Temari sank her claws into. He then turned back to the window to watch the people working outside. He appreciated Suna's assistance but hopefully, they wouldn't have to rely on Gaara for too much longer. The people of the Sand village had their own problems to deal with, they didn't need Konoha adding more on their plate.

"Which wagon has the medical supplies?" someone shouted down below and another person pointed him in the right direction.

Naruto watched as they ran to the wagon and began counting the boxes diligently, checking and double checking each one to make sure that they had all they needed. He hoped that the boxes contained enough supplies to sustain the hospital for awhile. Sakura and the other medics could definitely use all of the help that she could get.

'Sakura.' He thought as he leaned against the window sill and crossed his arms over his chest.

Was she eating properly or had she fallen back into the habit of skipping meals because she was too busy to eat? Was she getting enough sleep? He knew that his pink-haired teammate could take care of herself but that didn't stop him from worrying about her. She didn't like to rely on others the way she should and that worried him even more.

At least when Sasuke got out of the hospital there would be someone to look out for her. Well…he _hoped_ that Sasuke would. Sasuke didn't strike him as someone who would care to keep tabs on Sakura's comings and goings but perhaps the time he'd spent away from them had given them a chance to get closer. He was under no illusions that Sasuke was happy about staying in the village. He had no ties or affection to his place of birth nor a reason to continue his loyalty. Maybe being in a coma had changed his outlook on life? Inwardly Naruto snorted. That would never happen. As much as he cared for Sasuke there wasn't much to be done that could change his mind once it was set on something. He could only hope that the moody guy hadn't snapped on Sakura when all she was trying to do was help him. He wasn't sure Sakura could handle it if he did.

"Is something bothering you?" Gaara asked and Naruto waved off his concern.

"No." he said with a half-hearted laugh. "I should actually get going before all of the shops close."

"Oh? Who are you trying to buy something for?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, embarrassed to even say anything. He wasn't a very good gift giver but he figured that Hinata would like something from Suna. She'd been pulled from the active duty roster to work in the hospital so she hadn't been outside of the village in months. After helping them awaken Sasuke a small gift was the least he could do to repay her. That and he had no idea how to be romantic otherwise.

"I'm just going to look for something for a friend." He said as Gaara's skeptical green eyes looked him up and down.

"A girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No! I mean she's a girl and she's my friend but-"

Gaara raised his hand to silence him and lazily leaned to one side of his chair.

"Say no more." He said and pressed a button on his desk. "I'll ask Temari to escort you."

"That won't be necessary Gaara." Naruto protested.

"Do you know what women like?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say 'yes' but quickly closed it. He'd already bought Sakura's gift, a cache of blank scrolls and ink that he knew she desperately needed. Sakura was an easy person to buy something for because he understood her better than most people he interacted with. However, with Sakura being the exception, he actually had no idea what women liked let alone what a woman like Hinata would prefer. Since she was a woman from a noble clan she had probably been raised on finer things that he could only dream about…things that his wallet was just unable to hold a candle to. He couldn't show up with just _anything_. With his shoulders slumping in defeat he shook his head.

"Well, I don't know either." Gaara said and Naruto gapped at him.

"Are you…are you using me as an excuse?" he asked incredulously.

The normally stoic Kazekage's lips spread into a full smile just as the door to his office opened. Naruto couldn't believe. _Gaara_ actually had someone that he was interested in. Naruto almost pinched himself just to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

"Kazekage-sama, you called?" the sand ninja asked as Gaara stood up from behind his desk.

"Yes, would you please send for Temari. Tell her it's an urgent matter."

 **….**

Sasuke frowned as he felt slender fingers run through his hair, gently tugging the locks this way and that before letting the strands go.

"Okay, lean back please."

Sasuke did as Hinata had instructed and leaned back on his stool until his back touched the edge of the sink. She then tilted his head back even more before turning on the faucet. When she sprayed his hair with the water he flinched at the cold temperature and did his best to glare in the direction that he thought she was.

"Sorry, Uchiha-san." She said, although there was a rarely heard hint of amusement in her voice.

She held the sink hose away from his head for a moment and then tried again. The water was much warmer a second time but the Uchiha was still miffed from her previous mistake. His irritation abated a bit as small giggles escaped from his companion. It was odd to hear her laugh since she'd never done so before. It was possessed an almost twinkling quality and although it was just as soft as the rest of her, it wasn't quite as annoying.

It wasn't enough to lift his mood entirely though. He wouldn't be in this position in the first place if her clan wasn't such a stickler for a formal code of conduct. Who the hell cared what he looked like for this asinine dinner? He sure didn't. However, he didn't really have the option to not attend. They were supposed to be getting married after all and things like this were to be expected. He just needed to play his role well enough to get his eyes back.

He blinked as water droplets from the hose splashed on his face and slender fingers ran themselves through his hair. A cool sensation of Hinata pouring what he assumed was shampoo on his scalp contrasted with the warm water and her gentle fingers took on a more scrubbing quality. His eyes drooped a bit from the feeling. One of his earliest memories was of his mother washing his hair though he didn't quite remember what it felt like. He supposed, as Hinata's nails raked against his scalp, that it had to have felt something like this. She worked in silence as she scrubbed his hair down with shampoo and then rinsed it out. She repeated the process with conditioner and by the time she was finished he was halfway to sleep.

"All done." She said and Sasuke sat upright. A rough towel was then placed on his head before Hinata rubbed it thoroughly against his hair to remove the excess moisture. "I put your hakama out on your bed."

Sasuke grimaced underneath the towel and sucked his teeth.

"So now I must wear a special outfit for dinner." He sneered and Hinata stopped her vigorous rubbing.

"It's a tradition for the suitor to have a formal dinner with the father of his intended." Hinata said. "Do you…do you not know how to put one on?"

Sasuke frowned as she removed the towel. He could feel her eyes looking at him, the pity that rolled off of her in waves made him nauseous.

"I know how to wear a hakama Hyuuga." He grumbled. "Are there any other ridiculous traditions I need to be made aware of?"

He listened intently to the woman shuffle beside him as she grabbed something from off of the counter. She ran what he presumed to be a comb through his hair, diligently working through some of the tangles with the teeth.

"In the past men who married into the main house were sent to work the fields with the branch members for the duration of the courtship." She said. Sasuke snorted at the notion. There was no way he would lower himself to plowing the _Hyuuga's_ fields.

"I suppose that was your way of reminding your men of their place."

"No…it's to remember to value those that work so hard for us."

"Hn." He grunted, a bit taken aback by her answer.

"Do the Uchiha have any traditions?" she asked as she put the comb back on the counter and grabbed something else.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as she brought the new tool up to his freshly detangled hair and snipped. The Uchiha didn't need such petty traditions like the Hyuuga…at least none that he could remember. He frowned at the thought, the sound of scissors snipping away near his ears. He couldn't remember any weddings or births or funerals. He tried to dredge up memories of celebrations and festivals but there were none to be had. He was positive that they'd occurred but when he tried to remember specific events, everything came up empty.

"When I was younger," Hinata started, breaking the silence between them. "Some branch members told me that if a woman wanted to marry an Uchiha she had to drink blood."

"That's ridiculous." Sasuke replied as he drew back from her scissors with a grimace on his face.

Why would they tell her such a thing? He may not remember any of his clan's rituals but he was positive that that wasn't one of them. The Uchiha were many things but they weren't barbaric. Small giggles erupted from the Hyuuga which caused his grimace to turn into a look of mild confusion. She pulled his head back into the proper position and resumed cutting his hair, little bits of laughter interspersed between her snips. Drinking blood to marry an Uchiha? Was…was that her idea of a joke?

'Stupid woman.'

 _ **To be continued...**_ **Becoming Observant**


	9. Becoming Observant

**CCNote : Hello hello! The cherry blossoms have come and gone and Spring is solidly in the prefecture. That means school has FINALLY resumed. My first years have arrived and I've got to go back to doing what I'm actually being paid to do lol. I'll still be updating this story though so don't worry too much. I made two promises to myself when I came back to writing fanfiction 1) Never write more than one story at once and 2) to always finish what I start lol. This story has been gamed out chapter by chapter already. Anyway, please enjoy! Don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Observant**

The smell of spices and smoke filled the air as the hot desert sunset on the earthen buildings of the Sand village. There were many things about Suna that Naruto found himself at odds with. The days were too hot and the nights were too cold. The food was too spicy and there was no ramen to speak of for him to have as an alternative. Despite its demerits, the people were kind- being a friend of the Kazekage certainly helped in that department- and it possessed one thing that Konoha couldn't hold a candle to. The street markets. Even when Konoha had been at peace they'd never had as robust of a street market as the one here in Suna. Vendors stood outside harking their wares from dawn to dusk and there were always throngs of people ready to buy. The only thing comparable to it were the festivals that used to happen back in Konoha but there hadn't been one since before the war.

Naruto smiled as he watched two little boys admiring vibrantly hand-painted masks in the stall next to him, both boys arguing quite loudly over which mask was the most terrifying when confronting enemy shinobi. Here the kids still attended Suna's academy and there was such an influx of immigrants from other villages that they'd had to open a second school. Naruto's smile widened as he watched one of the boys put a bright orange fox mask on his face to unsuccessfully scare the other boy. The owner of the mask stand laughed at the boys' antics and shooed the two of them away, allowing them to keep the fox mask they seemed to fancy so much.

'One day.' Naruto thought as the boys scampered off into the crowd. 'Konoha will be just like this. I'll make sure of it.'

"I don't think this girl of yours wants a face mask." A voice next to him laughed and Naruto jumped in surprise.

He'd been so lost in his own thoughts that he'd completely forgotten about Gaara and Temari. The Sand siblings didn't seem to mind though and began pulling him through the crowd to more appropriate stalls.

"So this girl, what does she like?" Temari asked as she hooked her arm through his.

Naruto scratched his chin in thought, racking his brain for some scrap of information that could be helpful. What _did_ Hinata like?

"Uh?"

"You have no idea do you?" Temari huffed and looked back over her shoulder at Gaara who was trying not to look interested in their conversation. "C'mon Gaara, you won't be able to hear properly back there."

Gaara looked mildly alarmed at her statement but came up to her side anyway. Once he was there she hooked her arm through his as well and dragged both men through the crowded market.

"So Naruto who _is_ this girl? I will be able to help you better if I know who she is." Temari said.

With his free hand, he scratched the back of his head and pointedly looked away from the kunoichi. He really didn't want to tell anyone about Hinata just yet. Temari frowned and turned her attention to her brother.

"And what about you Kazekage- _sama_? You're tagging along for a reason. Who is she?"

Gaara only pursed his lips close at his sister's teasing, eyes trained determinedly on the path ahead of them.

"I hope all men aren't as hopeless as you two." Temari sighed and pulled them towards the left to what appeared to be a brightly lit sweets shop. "Let's get something harmless."

Temari let go of both of their arms and pushed open the door to the sweets shop. As soon as the door opened the trio was assaulted by the scent of sugar that seemed to cling to the air. Towers of multicolored lollipops dotted the expansive shop and the back wall was covered in brightly colored candy dispensers. It all screamed 'toothache' and Naruto knew that if he'd only been a few years younger he wouldn't have hesitated to eat everything in there.

With Gaara at his side, he followed Temari further into the shop and marveled at all of the various kinds of sweets. Out of the corner of his eye, a box of strawberries dipped in white chocolate caught his attention. He'd never seen that kind of combination and the bright red strawberries looked very inviting. He wasn't the biggest fan of strawberries but he knew that Sakura would have screamed if she'd seen them. They hadn't had a shipment of fresh strawberries to the village in so long. Naruto reached out to grab a box of six but Temari smacked his hand away.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked with her hands on her hips. "Those will not keep on the trip back to Konoha. Are you trying to get this girl sick?"

"Uh no-"

"Then come on. We are not stopping here. If this girl is special she needs the best Suna has to offer!"

Naruto gulped. 'The best Suna had to offer' sounded extraordinarily expensive. Absently he patted the pocket that held his wallet and silently prayed that it wouldn't be as bad as he was expecting. Unfortunately, as soon as he saw the roundtable draped in a red velvet tablecloth those prayers went out the window. Boxes of chocolate sat delicately displayed on little metal stands, each compartment containing a different kind of treat.

"So there are salted caramel squares, dark chocolate mousse, white and dark chocolate truffles-" Temari said, rattling off the extensive list of chocolates. Gaara coughed and picked up one of the boxes. He sniffed then grimaced, holding the offending object out at arm's length.

"Temari this seems…excessive. I couldn't eat something like this." He said and the blonde woman crossed her arms over her chest.

"These aren't meant for _you_ to enjoy." She scoffed. "Women have a more refined palate than men and would appreciate an assortment like this. I know the owner of this shop personally and I know the dedication and hard work that goes into making each one of these. Any women would be lucky to be able to try even one of these and I've never seen an unsatisfied customer."

"Temari-"

"Do you want this girl to like you or not?"

Naruto watched with pity as Gaara closed his eyes, conceded to his sister's point, and grabbed a second box. Temari's smirk was blinding as a smug sense of satisfaction radiated off of her. Naruto shivered at the sight, reminding himself to never go against Temari. No matter what, she was probably always right. Looking away from the siblings he grabbed one of the boxes for himself and brought it up to the cashier. He wasn't sure if Hinata would like the chocolate or not but he hoped she did. As he emptied his poor, defenseless frog wallet onto the counter he vowed to himself to find out what the Hyuuga's interests were.

 **….**

"Hinata-sama, right this way."

Sasuke frowned as he felt a small hand lightly pressed down against his forearm to indicate that they needed to move forward. Sure her assistance was necessary for him to get around but that didn't mean he appreciated it. If anything it only made him resent her more, especially when he knew that he was surrounded by an indeterminable amount of eyes sizing him up. The last Uchiha was within the walls of the coveted Hyuuga compound. It was the kind of occurrence that drew all of the curious eyes of the Hyuuga clan members. They made themselves inconspicuous. The halls held the sound of no more than three sets of footsteps but he knew he was being watched. There was no such thing as going unobserved in a house full of people who could see through walls.

Sasuke's frown deepened as they suddenly stopped their trek through the silent halls, nearly losing his balance in the process but Hinata kept him upright. What he could only presume to be a door slid open in front of them and a soft murmur of unfamiliar voices reached his ears. He tensed as he felt all of the attention in the room was drawn to him, a feeling of paranoia creeping in when paired with the fact that he didn't know how many people there were. He didn't know the layout of the room nor was he able to eye up potential threats. All exits were nonexistent to him and the only thing to keep him moored in the darkness was the pathetic woman by his side.

"Uchiha-san. Hinata-sama." An old gravelly voice said as they fully entered the room. "Thank you for joining us."

"Thank you for inviting us." Hinata replied, subtly pulling Sasuke along to their proper seats.

She tugged at the edge of his sleeve and he tried to sit but the chair was non-existent. The lower he went the faster he realized that they were to be seated on the floor. There was an awkward cough from somewhere in the room as he slowly lowered himself to the floor but Sasuke ignored them. If he were to say anything this 'engagement dinner' would take longer than it needed to. The faster it was over the better.

"Uchiha-san." A deep voice called from the far side of the room. "It is an honor to see you again after all this time."

Another fit of coughing filled the tense room and Sasuke's fingers curled beneath the table. This man must be Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata's father and current head of the Hyuuga clan. Proper manners dictated that he respond in kind with some sort of pleasantry of his own but he didn't. Any niceties he could have come up with were washed out by the poison on his tongue and his overall irritation from being in the man's presence in the first place.

It was bad enough he had to deal with _one_ Hyuuga every day. Being in a room filled with them was even worse. Hiashi said nothing address his silence and instead the room was filled with the sound of shuffling and clinking dishes. Several plates were set down in front of him but the Uchiha did not move to partake in them. Underneath the table, he felt a small tug at his sleeve but he drew the material away from her fingers.

"Are you not hungry Uchiha or is the food not to your liking?" a snarky female voice asked. He couldn't be sure of where the voice came from so he didn't raise his head. Instead, he reached out with his left hand for what he hoped would be something to drink.

He was disappointed to find that his fingers were met with air, his broad sleeve knocking over what sounded like a pair of heavy chopsticks. As the utensils clattered noisily against the table, a small saucer was placed in his hand and something was poured into it. A familiar hand pressed lightly against his own and he lifted the saucer up to his lips. The strong smell of sake burned his nostrils but he took a sip of the alcohol anyway. Smooth, nearly tasteless. It was the kind of thing only those who were apart of the upper echelon of society would hope to enjoy. While the masses burned their throats with a regular sake, the elite sipped on a version akin the water and twice as potent.

When he finished his first cup, Hinata readily placed it back to its previous position on the table. There was a small scoff from the female from before but not another person acknowledged the exchange. Instead, the Hyuuga were much more focused on hammering out details about their wedding, details he couldn't care less about.

"I was telling Hiashi-sama that a fall wedding would be the best. If we start now we should be able to have everything in order by the time the leaves have turned."

"When need to set a concrete date for the ceremony."

"Before the harvest or after?"

"Ideally after."

"I've spoken with the Hokage about the guest list-"

Sasuke pressed his lips together and tuned out the asinine dribble that spilled from the lips of the Hyuugas around him. It was almost disgusting how eager they were for the marriage between himself and Hinata. How eager they were to marry off their heiress. They didn't know anything positive about him. All they knew was his past. They knew of the utter destruction that he'd repeatedly proven to be capable of but they still wanted to give them their heiress. Hyuuga Hinata, the sacrificial lamb. The corners of his lips twitched in distaste but before a grimace could form, the saucer of sake was placed back into his hand. He lifted the cup to his lips obediently, desperate for something else to do.

"Once the wedding is complete we will need to quickly make preparations for children."

The Uchiha choked, the sake he'd been sipping on going up his nose. The saucer he'd been holding was removed from his hand and a stiff linen replaced it. He brought the material up to his mouth and coughed into it.

"Surely you knew that children were expected from this union Uchiha. You _are_ the last of your kind after all." The female voice from before spoke up.

"Hanabi." Hinata whispered sharply as a disgruntled murmuring rolled through the other Hyuugas.

"What?" Hanabi said, her voice dripping with feigned innocence. "I'm just saying that he looks a bit surprised."

"Hanabi please-"

"So tell me Uchiha. How many children do you believe it will take to revive your clan? Only one or two would not be sufficient. Perhaps you plan to take on a second wife-"

"Hanabi that is enough." Hiashi interrupted and a hush fell over the room. "You are excused."

"Father-"

"I said you are excused."

"This way Hanabi-sama." A soft voice said and directed the clearly irritated girl out of the room.

Sasuke placed the linen he'd used to wipe his mouth on the table in front of him, likely covering the food the Hyuuga were expecting him to eat but he didn't care. Across the table, Hiashi cleared his throat and there was some shuffling as he rose to his feet.

"I apologize for my daughter's outburst. If I may have a word with you in private?" Hiashi asked although it came out as more of a statement than a question.

Sasuke doubted he ever had the option to decline a private audience with the man in the first place. With a muffled grunt he rose to his own feet and Hinata followed him. He could feel the stares of the other Hyuuga on them as they followed Hiashi out of the room. They walked together in silence down a different hall, one that felt as if it were open to the outdoors and smelled distinctly floral. Wherever Hiashi was leading them to didn't take long to reach and the man slid open another door.

"Hinata." Hiashi said flatly and the small hands that had been guiding him immediately fell away from his elbow.

Her weight shifted from one foot to the other as she seemed hesitant to leave them but eventually she did. Sasuke let out a long slow breath through his nose as he listened to the sound of her retreat. He wasn't a complete invalid. He could kill a man like Hiashi within seconds if he had his sight.

"Please have a seat Uchiha-san." Hiashi said as he entered the empty room.

Sasuke followed the man inside, his footsteps more careful than what they'd be if he could see. His foot bumped against what he hoped to be a chair and he slowly sat down on it. There was a bit of scrapping against the floor and the clinking of glasses before Hiashi sat down in front of him. A small saucer that was similar to the one from before was pressed against his fingertips but he refused to take it.

"You're blind." The Hyuuga head stated bluntly, briefly pausing to take a sip from his cup. Seeing no need to respond to the obvious, Sasuke remained silent. "When the Hokage informed us that Hinata would be staying with you I had believed that it was just to keep you under a closer watch. No matter."

"Hn. You seem to find little issue with marrying your daughter to a blinded traitor." Sasuke sneered and the man across from him sniffed indignantly.

"You have grown into a rather unpleasant young man. I remember you being a bit more…agreeable when you were a child."

"Having your family killed in cold blood by the order of a council tends to do that to a person." Sasuke replied without a hint of emotion, grabbing his saucer and draining it in one go. When he placed it back on the table Hiashi immediately refilled it.

"The Uchiha and Hyuuga have always been rivals, one always striving to topple the other. The closest we ever got to being equals was just before the…incident."

Sasuke tensed at Hiashi's choice of words. 'Incident' was insufficient. What had occurred was not an 'incident'. It was a massacre. A slaughter that stained the streets of his district red and weighed heavily on Itachi's heart until the day he killed him. That 'incident' ruined the Uchiha. Its memory was forever burned into his mind, a constant reminder of the toxic sludge that still resided within the Leaf. The Uchiha lifted his saucer to his lips for a second time and downed all of the sake within.

"Is this what you wanted to discuss in private?" Sasuke grumbled as Hiashi refilled his cup.

"Well then." Hiashi sniffed and his chair creaked beneath him. "What do you think of Hinata?"

The Uchiha frowned and took a slow sip of his refilled saucer. This man would not like his true thoughts of his Hinata. His soft, weak daughter that had inflicted more physical pain upon him than any of Orochimaru's 'training'. No…Hyuuga Hiashi would not wish to know that he wanted his daughter dead. The silence in the room continued until his saucer was empty, this time the Hyuuga head did not refill it.

"Your father and I were never friends but I knew him to be an honorable man regardless of the circumstances that surrounded his death and those of your clansmen. To my knowledge, he treated your people fairly and his wife stood by his side. They were equals in all matters regarding the clan but I believe she held more sway when it came to the matters of your family. I expect you to honor Hinata in the same way or you will truly be the last of your kind."

 **….**

"Dammit!" Hanabi hissed under breath as she repeatedly hit her palms against the post in the courtyard. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Again and again, her hands slapped against the splintering wood, stabbing at the meaty flesh of her palms. Each time she made contact with the wood a bloody handprint was left behind. She couldn't feel the self-inflicted pain. It amounted to little more than a tingle in comparison to the frustration mounting inside of her…the hate that was threatening to erupt.

"Why!" she hissed. "Why him dammit?!"

She'd never been more ashamed to be a Hyuuga than she had been sitting in that stifling room with the elders. She recalled the way their eyes followed the Uchiha's movements carefully as though they were watching the most interesting thing in the world. The Uchiha bloodline was more valuable than mere money could buy. He was their _prize._

Hanabi hit the post harder. He was a murder. A traitor. He would do nothing to protect Hinata if and when the time came for it and that time _would_ come. The day Hinata bore the name Uchiha there would immediately be a target on her back. She doubted that Sasuke would even care. He hadn't even looked in Hinata's direction the entire time he'd been with them.

"Dammit!"

Yet Hinata seemed to be unable to take her eyes off of him. She was glued to the disgusting man's side, guiding him to his chair and pouring his drinks. It made her nauseous just seeing them together! Letting out a yell she hit the wooden post one last time before it split in half and fell to the ground. Hanabi inhaled shakily, struggling to catch her breath. Pulverizing the post was not enough. She needed more. Turning on her heel she headed for the covered walkway to make her way into the compound. If she was quick about it she would be able to get out of the compound before dinner was over and head to the training grounds.

She'd only just made it to the edge of the walkway when the door to her father's private office slid open and the object of her ire stepped out. Hanabi narrowed her eyes at the Uchiha who was so bold as to stand oh so arrogantly and ignore her presence. To men like him, there was very little that mattered. To a man like him, her sister would _never_ matter. After everything Hinata had been through she deserved to be happy more than anyone. Neji didn't die just for her life to be fettered away like this!

"Uchiha!" Hanabi yelled as she marched up to the silent man.

His dark eyes slid lazily in her direction and for a brief moment, she froze. The unsettling sensation of fear coursed through her veins with the remembrance of just who this man was. She swallowed the fear as best as she could but it still remained palpable on her tongue.

"I don't care what the elders or my father thinks-" Hanabi started and the Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest.

"That makes two of us." He replied. Hanabi gapped at him, briefly taken aback in part by the bored tone of his voice and his overall response.

"I…I don't care about their plans or how this arrangement will benefit the clan. My sister is too good for someone like you!"

"Someone like me?"

"Yes like you! You don't care about anyone but yourself! Hinata should be with someone that will make her happy. She should be with Naruto, not some bloodthirsty traitor who can't even look anyone in the eye!"

Slowly the Uchiha took a step towards her, his dark eyes showing no emotion but the swirling aura around him hinted at something dangerous. Hanabi clenched her fists, ignoring the pain from her bloody palms, and stood her ground against him. With each step, he drew closer and her heart threatened to escape from her chest. Unconsciously she took half a step away from him when he was close enough that the smell of sake reached her nose.

"Uchiha-san?" her sister's soft voice called out from the far end of the covered walkway. "Hanabi?"

Hanabi whirled around, surprised to see Hinata shuffling as quickly as she could towards them. Her long dark hair had been intricately twisted up for this sham of a dinner, the delicate hair ornaments within it jingling lightly with her movements. The simple lavender yukata she wore complimented her sister even better when the moonlight hit her.

"Hanabi-" Hinata called out again but the girl in question didn't wait for her to reach them. Instead, she skirted around the Uchiha and headed in the opposite direction. "Hanabi! Hanabi wait!"

Hanabi didn't wait.

She couldn't.

 **…..**

The house was silent when they returned which was an occurrence that was not unusual but felt even more stifling. Whatever kind of comfortability she'd carved out for herself was erased and all that was left were the feelings of disdain that rolled off of Sasuke in waves. Hinata bit her bottom lip nervously, clutching the tray of soup and rice in her hands as she looked out at the man sitting rigidly on the back deck. Sasuke wasn't a man of many words but he hadn't made even a peep since they'd left the compound. It wasn't like she'd tried to make conversation with him either.

Her own mind was too entangled with worry for Hanabi. She'd never seen her sister take such liberties in the presence of their father and after she'd run off earlier, her concerns only grew. Hinata shook her head and walked out with her tray onto the deck. She would have to return to the compound soon for wedding preparations. She'd get to the bottom of Hanabi's outburst then. For right now all she could do was make sure Sasuke at least had something to eat since he hadn't eaten anything at the compound. When she stepped out onto the deck, the Uchiha tensed at her approach but didn't signal much more that he knew she was there.

"Uchiha-san." She said to his stiff back. "You haven't eaten since this afternoon-"

"I'm not hungry." He snapped and Hinata's fingers tightened around the tray's handles.

"Oh…okay."

Taking a deep breath she turned to go back into the house.

"Hyuuga wait." Sasuke said, stopping her in her tracks.

Hinata eyed him curiously. With his back still turned to her it was hard for her to decipher what he might want. Carefully she set the tray down on the deck and approached the seated man. She then lowered herself to sit beside him, allowing her legs to dangle freely off the side. Even though she'd complied with his request he still didn't acknowledge her. Instead, his eyes remained trained at some point in the distance, a point that neither one of them could see.

"Uchiha-san-" she started but Sasuke interrupted her.

"You are in love with Naruto." He said flatly.

Hinata stared at him, her lips slightly parted in surprise. Why was he bringing up Naruto all of a sudden? Had he been thinking about him this entire time?

"Yes or no Hyuuga?"

Hinata looked away from him to fiddle with her fingers in her lap. Sasuke had pressed her once before about her relationship with Naruto but this time felt serious. Instead of trying to shame her he almost sounded…angry. The way Naruto's name had been formed on his tongue sounded like a curse.

"Yes or no?"

"Uchiha-san-"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes."

The affirmative word had spilled out before she could stop it but Sasuke had no visible reaction to it. Hinata pressed a trembling hand against her heart and struggled to keep her breathing even. She'd done well the past few weeks to keep Naruto from taking over the forefront of her thoughts. In the beginning, his face had littered her dreams with such a frequency that she was sure she was going to go crazy. As time passed, and although her love for the blonde hadn't wavered, the feeling as if she would break with the slightest gust of wind had waned. However, Sasuke bringing up her feelings for his former teammate brought that sensation back with a full force.

"Were you together before you signed the contract?" Sasuke asked and Hinata's head snapped back to look at him. He still stared off into the distance, his jaw tight and breathing short.

"No." Hinata replied breathlessly, seeing no need to hide anything from Sasuke after confessing that she did, in fact, love another man. She _still_ loved him.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and ran his fingers through his hair. "I find that hard to believe."

Hinata gapped at him, a strange and unfamiliar anger welling within her as the Uchiha yet again called her virtue into question. She shouldn't even be surprised at this point. He'd already thought that the woman the Hyuuga were giving to him was whore anyway.

"I'm telling you the truth. I only kissed him once-"

Hinata's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened at her own admission. While she wanted to be honest, the kiss she'd shared with Naruto was a secret she would have preferred to keep to herself. Obsidian eyes turned towards her, narrowed and dangerous because of her words.

"You kissed him." he said, his voice low and monotonous.

A pale hand trailed up her arm to her neck, causing her to tense at the distinct memory of his fingers around her throat. His fingers did not linger there for long, instead coming up to tangle themselves in her hair. His other hand followed the same route but this time explored her face. Slowly his fingertips traced one of her burning cheeks before trailing down to her lips. His thumb pressed lightly against her bottom lip, pulling it down ever so slightly to open her mouth.

"Tell me Hyuuga." He said as he leaned closer, the smell of sake invading her nostrils. "Would you ever kiss someone like me?"

Hinata gasped and tensed in his arms as he came even closer, his fingers tightening in her hair. A smirk spread across his lips from her reaction and he drew back.

"I will sleep alone tonight."

 **To be continued…. Becoming an Announcement**


	10. Becoming an Announcement

**CCNote:** **Alright, alright, alright! Here's the latest chapter. I really hope that you will like reading it as much as I did writing it. Ignore all glaring mistakes I've made, I'll go back and correct them eventually...maybe. Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW! They mean a lot to me!**

 **Becoming an Announcement**

Hinata looked out at the rain as it slid down the foggy window pane. The courtyard garden was barely visible in the downpour and would likely remain so for a few more hours. A small black dot in the middle of the courtyard moved through the rain with a series of basic repetitive motions. The motions were ones that all beginning Byakugan wielders undertook when they were first learning how to move their body in accordance with their traditions. It wasn't a hard pattern but when done over a series of hours it put a strain on the body. Such was the punishment for disobedience.

Hanabi had been out in the courtyard since the first rays of dawn had peaked through the trees and there was no sign that she would be allowed to stop soon. Across from where her little sister was 'practicing', Hinata knew that her father and the elders were observing from underneath the covered pathway. Hanabi faltered a bit, falling down into the mud to catch her breath and as much as Hinata wished to comfort her she knew that she couldn't. She would only make things worse for Hanabi and there were only so many things she could protect her from.

Sighing she tiredly rubbed her right eye with the heel of her hand and turned back to the list of addresses that the elders had given her. Every major representative from each of the five great nations was to be invited as well as the heads of prominent clans. All of the clan heads in Konoha had been invited and she was positive that many of the unfamiliar names she saw were business ties that her clan wished to strengthen. Her eyes scanned the list to ensure that no one of importance had been left out until her eyes caught one of the last names on the list.

 _Uzumaki…Naruto. _

She bit her bottom lip as she read the name over and over, her eyes drinking in every letter. Out of the 'rookie nine' he was the only one specifically listed by name. It made sense that he was to be invited, after all he was the savior of the world and heavily favored to be the next Hokage. What would he say when the invitation showed up in his mailbox? Would he care? Hinata sniffed and grabbed an ink-filled brush. It was rather self-centered of her to think that even now as she finalized the guest list for her wedding that Naruto would have feelings for her.

He'd given her no indication that he cared for her as more than a trusted friend a…comrade. She had no right to request more from him. She had a duty to uphold…a clan to strengthen. In any case, Naruto would be happy to know that Sasuke would remain in the village as a free man. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that Naruto cared for Sasuke more than anyone else. That same surly Uchiha who seemed to spurn Naruto's outstretched hand at every turn. Sasuke was Naruto's important person and this marriage benefited him just as much as it did her clan. Pressing her lips together into a tight line she crossed Naruto's name off of the list and grabbed an invitation scroll from the top of the stack. She would hand this one to him in person.

"Hinata-sama." Ko said as he entered the small sitting room.

"Ko-san." Hinata greeted with a small dip of her head and a smile.

The older Hyuuga seated himself across the table from her, his back straight and his pale eyes stern.

"Ko-san, is everything okay?" Hinata asked and he stiffly nodded his head in response. Even though he was trying to hide his emotions behind a well-crafted mask of ambivalence she knew that something was off about him. "You are not being honest with me."

"It is not my place Hinata-sama-"

"Your place is to always be honest." Hinata interrupted, reaching out across the table and placing a hand on top of his.

She watched as Ko's brows knitted together and his eyes drew away from her to the pile of invitation scrolls on the table. He picked up one of them with his free hand but didn't unfurl the message. They both already knew what it contained.

"Hinata-sama…are you safe?" he asked and Hinata blinked at him in surprise before retracting her hand.

Was she safe? That was an odd question to ask. Sasuke hadn't harmed her…well, he _had_ but she didn't believe that he would do it again. Despite all of his bluster, all of his blatant animosity, she didn't believe that physical harm would come to her.

"Uchiha Sasuke is a very dangerous individual Hinata-sama. You must guard yourself against him. I do not put it past him to lash out against you."

' _I am not a dog Hyuuga.'_

The sound of the Uchiha's voice rang in her ears as she listened to her clansman's words. He _was not_ a dog yet they locked him a cage and treated him like one. She herself spoke to him as if he were about to explode at any given moment. When she spoke to him did he hear the same kind of condescension and fear in her tone that was coming from Ko? Hinata looked away from her former protector and returned to double checking the guest list.

"I will be fine Ko-san. Thank you for your concern." She said flatly. "Is there more you wish to speak about?"

Ko opened his mouth, a mile long list of fears he wished to warn her about but instead, he remained silent. He stayed seated across from her as she continued checking the guest list. The clock in the sitting room ticked by overhead, counting down each second that she spent. As the time slipped by the countless names began to blend together and her mind shifted back to thoughts that had been plaguing her for most of the day. While Ko was worried about her own safety, she couldn't help but feel concern for the one he thought she should be careful of.

Sasuke had not spoken to her since the dinner with her family. He did not come out of his room to eat and the medicine she laid outside of his door remained untouched. She wasn't even sure if he got any sleep at night and while she could always use her Byakugan to check up on him she didn't want to invade what little privacy he had. She wanted to give him the distance that he needed but it seemed as if that only made things worse. Sasuke was used to distance. He was used to being alone. If Naruto was here he'd forcibly pull him out of his room and make him have human interaction. That course of action wasn't something Hinata felt comfortable with doing and instinctually felt as if it would make the situation worse.

So how…how did she get through to someone like him? Was he upset because she'd finally said aloud what they both already knew? He'd picked up on her love for Naruto long ago so that couldn't be it. Was it because she'd kissed him? Hinata bit her bottom lip and absently ran her fingers down the long list of names. Sasuke would not become jealous over a simple kiss. She was certain that a man like him had kissed a countless number of women, none of which were her. Her kissing Naruto was not something he of all people had the right to feel slighted by.

'Actually…' Hinata thought, her eyes shifting from the guest list to the window. 'How many women has he kissed? Has he done more than just that?'

It was not absurd for such a thought to run through her mind. Sasuke was a cute kid that had grown up into a handsome man. Women in the past had no trouble fawning over him. When he started showing his face around the village more there were sure to be many to pick up the torch for his adoration. Unfortunately for them, the fight for his affection would cease before it ever got a chance to start. Not too many women would be bold enough to steal the husband of a Hyuuga.

' _The husband of a Hyuuga.'_

Hinata frowned and returned to her immediate task. Sasuke was to be her husband and as such, she was not doing a very good job at taking care of him. Even if she didn't understand what was going on in his head. Even if he repeatedly rejected her. She had to do her best. She'd promised to do her best when she signed their engagement contract and she couldn't stop now just because he was ignoring her. With that thought in mind, she quickly finished up reading the guest list and gathered her things to leave. Ko dutifully assisted her in packing her bag and followed her out of the compound. As they walked towards the front gate Hinata held her umbrella tightly, knowing that each step led her closer and closer to the Uchiha District. A place that had been markedly uncomfortable over the last few days.

' _I will change that.'_ She thought as they steadily approached the gate. _'It is my home too.'_

"Be careful getting back Hinata-sama." Ko said as they finally reached the front gate.

The guards bowed stiffly to them and for a moment Hinata wondered how much longer they give her that honor.

 **….**

"Itachi." Sasuke muttered as he felt the rain stab harshly against his skin, each drop piercing through like a dagger.

' _My sister is too good for someone like you!'_

"Someone like me…Itachi…why me?"

The last Uchiha closed his eyes and leaned back against the rough bark of a tree and released a slow, shallow breath. Why did Itachi save him? Ever since the day his brother had massacred their clan this question had swirled in his mind. Sometimes it made him angry enough to set anything near on fire. At other times it tugged at a sorrow that made his heart feel as though it were being pulled from his chest. Mixed in between those two poles was fear as a child that morphed into confusion when he reached adulthood. Now…now he just felt empty.

' _My sister is too good…'_

Itachi had been good. He'd been _too_ good but even he had a selfish side. A side that had been willing to sacrifice their clan and his honor just to keep him alive. If he'd had a choice he would have rathered died with his clansmen than continue to exist in the state that he was in. Within him, Itachi had seen a hope for the future. Within him, Itachi had seen a way to repent for the sins that he was going to commit for the sake of peace. Itachi had been selfish in doing so but what he didn't realize was just how wrong he'd been.

'… _for someone like you.'_

That Hyuuga girl…Hanabi was it? He could still hear her voice ringing in his ears. A voice that was full of anger and hate and so much like his own. He couldn't fault her for being angry with him. In fact, her hate amused him but it brought up possibilities that he didn't want to deal with. The possibilities that came with the contract between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. The details of which had only specified that the Uchiha and Hyuuga heir were the ones that were supposed to be married. If his clan was still alive Hinata would be marrying his brother not him.

Would he have been as angry as Hanabi for the one person he admired the most in the world to be bound to a stranger? Hinata as his sister-in-law was something that he couldn't even imagine. Hinata as his wife was something that he didn't want to. Behind him, he heard the cracking of wet twigs and the slosh of mud as someone had finally come to collect him. It had taken them long enough. He'd been out here for several hours already, an Anbu should have at least made him go inside by now. The downpour was rather rough. He was going to drown out here because Kakashi's masked lapdogs had been too lazy to get him.

"Uchiha-san." A soft voice called out, just barely audible over the sound of the rain, wind, and the wet squelching of their feet in the mud.

He frowned as a covering came over his head and the rain ceased to beat down on him. This was the first time he'd heard her voice since the dinner at the Hyuuga compound. The first night he spent without the Hyuuga in his bed was the easiest. He now had an ample amount of space to himself and didn't have to worry about her inevitable encroachment onto his side of the bed. He wasn't stifled by her body heat and her hands didn't cling to his clothes. There were no mumbled whispers of 'Neji'- whoever the hell that was- and for the first time since being in the hospital basement he was truly alone. Yet, despite his newfound solitude, he found himself unable to sleep. For hours he'd laid prone in his bed, eyes closed and breathing even, but sleep remained elusive. Outside the ambient noises changed from crickets to birds but sleep never found him.

The second night had been not been any better. Not only was his stomach empty but he was also exhausted from trying to fall unconscious. He'd been through worse of course. He'd suffered physical pain that would crush even the most seasoned shinobi. He'd slept for six months it shouldn't be this hard to get to sleep again.

"Uchiha-san." Hinata said. "The rain will get worse. It's time to head back."

Perhaps he was going crazy due to a lack of sleep in nearly seventy-two hours but the sound of her voice was already making him tired. He dug his fingers into the mud and tried to stave off the feeling long enough until she was no longer in his presence.

' _My sister is too good to be with someone like you.'_

"Please come back with me." She said, her voice even closer than before.

"Why?" he growled.

"Uchiha-san?"

' _She should be with someone that loves her!'_

"Why are you doing this?" he spat and the bane of his existence faltered.

Why was she doing this? Everyone had a reason for their actions no matter how convoluted they might be. Naruto and Sakura wanted him to relieve the 'glory' days and pretend that they were a team. Kakashi wanted him to 'try again' but what he truly desired was a loyal weapon to fight for the village when the time came. The Hyuuga wanted land, money, and _children_. He just wanted his eyes back. Everyone wanted something. What did she want from him? Her hand touched his shoulder but he brushed it aside as if she'd burned him. In a way she had. He would have preferred that she'd never awakened him. He would have preferred to remain in his coma than to be continuously manipulated by everyone around him.

"Tell me something Hyuuga," he started.

She benefited from this agreement in some way, she had to. No matter how selfless she appeared she had something to gain. Itachi had had something to gain. He stood up on shaky feet and took a step towards his companion. He heard her take a step back but he followed her footsteps until she let out a small gasp of surprise. He took another step forward and found his body pressed lightly up against hers. She was short, much shorter than he'd previously thought her to be. He pressed himself closer to her and the covering that had been keeping them shielded from the elements fell away into the mud. The rain resumed pouring down upon them, this time even stronger than before.

"What do you get out of this agreement? How does marrying me benefit you?"

"Uchiha-san, I don't understand." She replied, futilely pressing her hands against his chest and the confusion that was evident in her voice only further served to fuel his irritation with her.

"Quit the innocent act _Hinata-sama_. What do you want from me? Your family has my lands, my money. You must want something from me as well."

"I-I don't want anything from you."

"Hn, then you are even more stupid than I thought." He said and reached out a hand to touch her. "You are nothing more than a pawn under the thumb of your clan."

She flinched as his fingers went up the wet fabric of her clothing in a similar trek to the night after the dinner. When he reached her skin it felt warm beneath his fingertips, her pulse strong. She was just as soft as she always was but this time he could taste the fear that radiated off of her in waves. He wanted _more_. He wanted her to hurt just like he was.

"You are in love with Naruto yes? If you really loved him, why are you marrying me? You do realize that he seems to consider me a friend?"

"Uchi-"

"Are you doing this to get his attention? Are you hoping that at the last minute he'll confess his feelings for you? Yes, that's what you're after."

"Stop it!" she said, her voice not quite a shout but louder than what it normally was. He smirked. He'd never heard her sound this way. He wanted more.

"It appears I've struck a nerve. You're just trying to make him jealous."

"No- no I'm not!"

"You don't have to lie to me _Hinata-sama_. I know you are just as greedy as the rest of your clan. How about in exchange for my eyes I allow you to take him as a lover? Although, if our children turn out blonde I do believe that will create rumors-" he whispered in her ear but she cut him off with a hard push against his chest. It wasn't enough to send him far but it did catch his attention. He smirked. "Have I angered you _Hinata-sama_?"

"Naruto-kun…Naruto-kun really cares about you! You are an important person to him!" she shouted over the rain. "Sakura-san cares about you and Hokage-sama as well. They- they love you!"

Sasuke frowned. Love? They _loved_ him? What the hell did those idiots know about loving him? They barely even knew him.

"Yes, my clan has their own plans. I might just be a pawn to them but I am doing this of my own free will. You ask me why I agreed to marry you and yes I do have my own selfish reasons. Its because other people love you and they want you to have a better life. Its because I want to help my clan any way I can. It is because if not me then who?" she continued to shout. "I know that I am a selfish person and I have reasons that you might not agree with but I am not _stupid_. I know what I've signed up for and I plan to see it through to the best of my abilities!"

The Uchiha blinked, rain cascading rapidly down his face. This woman…this stupid, pathetic woman. She was too much like Itachi. His brother was too good…too selfish. This woman was the same. Her wet hands pulled on his arm and directed him towards where their house was. _Their_ house. A house that had once belonged to one of his clansmen. A house that he was expected to 'try again' in.

' _I don't think it's possible to rebuild.'_

Both of Hinata's small hands clutched his arm tightly, pulling him through the forest and umbrella forgotten. If it were even possible the rain began to pour down harder but their pace remained the same. One slow arduous foot in front of the other. One step closer to his prison. Did Itachi know the tangled web that he'd woven when he'd saved him? Did he know what the ramifications of his selfish actions would bring about?

' _But I think we can try something new.'_

' _My sister is too good for someone like you!'_

' _I want you to try again.'_

Dropping to his knees into the mud, he covered his ears to block out the noise of the rain…the voices of those that hated him. The voices that apparently loved him. They all blended together in the darkness and caused his head to feel as though it were about to explode. A burning sensation behind his eyes started to break through the pain and a liquid thicker than rain began to run down his cheeks, collecting at the tip of his chin.

Hinata dropped down into the mud in front of him, slender arms wrapping around his neck and pulling him close to something warm…something that smelled like lavender and vanilla. He focused on the smell and although his head still hurt and his eyes burned the voices ceased. The rain continued to fall and after almost seventy-two hours he finally found himself unconscious.

 **….**

Hinata hummed softly to herself as she dipped a cloth into a bowl of chilled water and rang out the excess. She placed the cloth on Sasuke's forehead and his eyes twitched unconsciously at the temperature but his features quickly evened out. She pushed a few errant strands of raven hair off of his cheeks and was mildly astounded at how serene he looked when he was sleeping. His lips weren't upturned in an arrogant smirk and his eyes were boring holes of hatred into whatever they laid on. He actually looked like an agreeable person when he was sleeping. Unfortunately, that agreeableness didn't follow him into the land of the waking. Sighing she adjusted the blankets around his body for the umpteenth time.

"Itachi." He mumbled weakly in his sleep and Hinata pressed her lips together.

He'd been calling out for Itachi for awhile now in a similar fashion to when he'd called out for his mother. He wasn't having a nightmare per se but she didn't imagine his dreams to be sweet ones. He was no doubt plagued by his own memories. Sometimes a fleeting, boyish smile would flit across his face and she wondered if he was dreaming of a time when his clan was whole. Occasionally his dark brows would knit together and the soft, painful sound of his brother's name would escape his lips.

"Uchiha-san." She said softly as she removed the damp cloth from his forehead and activated her byakugan.

There was so much chakra built up around his eyes. If he'd been taking his medicine and sleeping the way he was supposed to the build-up would not be this bad but now it was even worse than before. He really needed to get a hold of himself before he caused himself to become blind permanently. Part of this was her fault really. She shouldn't have allowed him to be alone.

Biting her lower lip she placed a hand on either side of his head, intently observing the swollen pathways beneath his skull. She had to be careful. The brain and eyes were more sensitive than the rest of his body. If she unblocked too much at once she could send him into a permanent vegetative state. Taking a deep breath she sent the smallest amount of her own chakra through her fingertips and chipped away at the blockage.

It was only a little but this would alleviate the pain that he was currently feeling. His eyelids twitched in discomfort but soon relaxed once she had finished. His breathing remained even and his chakra didn't reject the small injection of her own. She let out a sigh of relief and began to retract her hand away from his head only to be met with his hand reaching up to catch hers. His fingers trembled against her own but curled around them as if they were the only thing that would keep him from falling.

"Uchiha-san?" she asked nervously but his fingers quickly fell away from her own and he went back to sleep.

Perhaps it had just been a reflex, an unconscious body movement that he couldn't control. Or maybe…maybe he wanted her to stay by his side. Whatever it was, she wasn't quite sure. As she resumed her humming she placed the damp cloth back on his forehead and adjusted his blankets once more. She hoped that he would be able to sleep for a few more hours because when he awoke she was going to make him eat something. He wouldn't be happy with her but he was going to eat whether he liked it or not.

 **….**

"Wow! This is even more than we expected!"

Naruto grinned proudly at the shocked expression on the guards' faces as they observed the seemingly endless caravan behind him and his squad. Gaara had certainly been generous with his resources but so had the other nations. Trade with Konoha had slowed to barely a trickle but this influx of goods would get things going again. Hopefully, investors would start to arrive soon and with them came jobs. With jobs came money, something his people desperately needed.

"Just sign here and we will begin the inspection of people and goods." The stunned guard said, handing Naruto a clipboard.

The blonde eyed the paperwork warily, a feeling of dread bubbling up in the back of his mind. If he signed this that meant that he would have to go through the inspection process with them and that would likely take all day. Mischievously he glanced back at Konohamaru who was coming up to the gate with his teammates at his side. A light bulb went off in his head.

"Actually, he's the one in charge." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders and placed his hands behind his head.

"B-b-but he's the kid-" the guard stammered as Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon finally reached them.

"A kid?" Naruto scoffed. " You're looking at the next Hokage. Isn't that right Konohamaru?"

"Huh?" the boy said, perplexed as to what he was walking into. Naruto lazily poked his pinky finger in his ear and swirled it around.

"The Hokage. I thought that you said you were going to be the next one? Or was I wrong?"

Konohamaru tightened his grip on his backpack and puffed out his chest to make himself appear bigger. Inwardly Naruto smirked, this was even easier than he'd thought.

"Of course I will be! I can wipe the floor with you! I'll be a better Hokage than you ever could!"

"See?" Naruto said, lazily gesturing from Konohamaru to the guard. "Doesn't that sound like a guy in charge."

"B-b-b-but-"

"I leave everything in your capable hands!"

"What do I need to do? I'll do a better job than he will."

"I-I-I don't kn-know about-"

"See ya!" Naruto grinned and gave the trio of chunin and the guard a mock salute.

He was able to hold in his laughter until he jumped to the first roof but that effort proved to be in vain when a loud 'you want me to do what?' shook a few birds from their trees. Naruto laughed heartily, jumping from roof to roof, his amusement not only stemming from the shirking of his responsibility. He felt giddy to be back in the hidden leaf village. Returning always brought back a certain sense of belonging when he crossed underneath the front gates. This was his home and it was filled with people he wanted to protect….with people that needed him.

He smiled as he looked out at the village, barely touched by the morning sun. His apartment was a crumbling beacon in the distance but the comfort of being home made him excited to walk through the door. Once he put his stuff down he would go to visit Sakura and Sasuke in the hospital. Hopefully, the bastard was in a better mood and hadn't hurt Sakura's feelings too much. After seeing his old teammates Kakashi would have caught wind that he was back in the village so he'd have to go report to him before he sent a poor genin on a wild goose chase.

' _After that…'_ Naruto thought as he landed on the front porch of his apartment. _'After that, I'll go find Hinata.'_

He thought back to the expensive box of chocolate nestled safely in the bottom of his bag. Would she like it? He could only hope that she did. With a wide grin on his face, he lifted his welcome mat to grab his spare key and unlocked his front door. The first thing he noticed was a pair of well-worn sandals placed neatly to the side of the door. The second thing was the fact that the apartment was a lot neater than how he'd left it. That could only mean that Sakura had been using his apartment as he'd insisted that she should. It was odd but the thought of her actually taking him up on his offer eased a bit of tension in his shoulders. He hated to leave her on her own for so long.

As quietly as he could, he made his way across the small living room to his bedroom where the door had been left ajar. Carefully he pushed the door open to find Sakura still fast asleep on his bed. Long, bare legs had tangled themselves up in his sheets and the baggy shirt she wore was bunched up halfway to give him an ample view of her mid-drift. A faint breeze blew into the room, ruffling her hair and causing goosebumps to spring up all over her skin. The morning rays of dawn that shone through his open window didn't seem to bother the sleeping medic nor did the sound of his footsteps against his treacherously creaking floor.

As quietly as he could, Naruto sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and smiled. He hadn't seen Sakura look this relaxed in months. It wasn't often that he was able to catch her with her guard down like this. He brushed a few pink locks of hair off of her forehead so that the diamond in the middle was visible. As soon as he touched her, her eyes flew open and stared back at him. At first, she looked confused, blinking slowly as she tried to make out if he was really there. Naruto chuckled and patted one of her tangled legs.

"Good morning Sakura-chan." He said and Sakura immediately shot up as if she'd jolted with a burst of electricity.

Her slender arms wrapped so quickly around his neck that he couldn't brace himself against her weight and fell back onto the bed with a muffled 'oomph'.

"You're back!" she said, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Naruto's grin widened at her excitement and patted the top of her messy pink head.

"If I get this kind of welcome, I should leave more often huh?"

"Idiot." Sakura grumbled and immediately released him.

She sat upright with a rather amusing look of mock-irritation on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. Naruto sat up as well and pulled his bookbag off of his back.

"I got you a present." He said as he unzipped the top of his bag to rummage around inside.

He then pulled out two shrink-wrapped sets of blank scrolls and two medium sized jars of ink. He watched with amusement as her eyes widened at the items and she immediately snatched them away from him.

"I've been using the backs of old scrolls for months!" Sakura exclaimed and hopped off of the bed.

She then scurried over to where her satchel sat on top of the desk he never used and began pulling scrolls out of it. As she'd stated before the scrolls were filled with black ink on both sides, the parchment fat from overuse and ink absorption.

"There should be some larger ones in stock at the hospital now but I thought you might want some of your own." Naruto said as he watched her repack her bag.

She flashed him a bright smile from over her shoulder and zipped her bag back up.

"Thank you, Naruto." She said before pausing for a moment to chew on her bottom lip. The look of consternation set off alarm bells in his head.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, getting up from the bed to go towards her. "Sasuke wasn't too much of a jerk was he?"

Sakura shook her head and pulled on the edge of her shirt, a watery smile on her lips.

"I'm just happy you're back."

 **….**

 _There weren't many things that got under Kiba's skin. He liked to think of himself as a patient person despite the short fuse many people thought that he had. In order to train a pack one had to be a steady and stable person. Pups emulated their pack leader after all. If he were irrational, his pack would take on that same trait._

 _The Inuzuka brought the cold metal of the whistle that hung around his neck up to his lips. He paused to glance down at Akamaru who sat dutifully by his side before blowing the whistle. The sound pierced his own ears but he knew that most people outside of his clan would not have heard a thing. It only took a few seconds but soon pups of all shades came bounding out from where they'd been out training in the forest. They clumsily pushed against one another and tripped over paws that they were still growing in to. They ran up to him and Akamaru, their mouths filled with their prizes as they jumped around excitedly._

 _Kiba blew the whistle a second time and all of the pups obediently stopped what they were doing and spat their prizes out. Kiba eyed the objects in disappointment. There were sticks and rocks and a couple of dead rabbits but none of them were the object they were supposed to have retrieved. They had a reputation for being the best trackers in all of Konoha and that title hadn't been just handed to them. Unfortunately, this particular litter was giving him a run for his money._

 _Just as he opened his mouth the admonish his pack a rustling from the bushes caught the attention of everyone. Their heads all snapped in the same direction as the sound to find the runt of the litter, a remarkably tiny ball of dark brown fur, sprinting as fast as it could towards them with a red cloth in its mouth. Kiba put his hands on his hips and smiled broadly as the pup got closer and closer._

 _"Well, I'll be damned." He said and brought the whistle up to his lips. He blew and the runt skidded to a stop right in front of him, laying the red strip of cloth at his feet. "Great job buddy! You found it!"_

 _The runt yipped happily at his success and Akamaru bopped him playfully on the head with a paw that was twice as big. The other pups started barking as well, sharing in their littermate's happiness but Kiba narrowed his eyes and blew his whistle. The high pitched barking ceased and the unsuccessful pups hung their heads in embarrassment._

" _Go on, five laps for the lot of ya." Kiba instructed and Akamaru stood up on all fours to lead the litter._

 _He then scooped up the runt and the rest of pups all got in line behind Akamaru. Kiba blew his whistle one last time and Akamaru sprinted out ahead, the pups trailing determinedly in his dust. The Inuzuka smiled as he watched the pack sprint off in the early morning sun and scratched the pup in his arms behind his ears._

" _Let's go get you a treat buddy." He said and the pup started nipping happily at his fingers._

 _He chuckled and began walking inside. Even though training pups was a tedious task it was one that he enjoyed doing. He couldn't wait until they chose their owners from his fellow clan members and finally received their names. With a sigh, Kiba entered the main house and placed the runt on the floor so that he could rummage around for treats. He looked in all of the kitchen cabinets twice but came up empty. The runt nudged his ankle with his wet nose, a look of disappointment growing in his big brown eyes the longer it took for him to receive his reward. Kiba patted the top of his head as an apology and stood up to his full height._

 _"Hey, Ma!" Kiba called out as he followed his nose to where his mother's scent was strongest. The runt followed close behind him, nipping playfully at his pant leg. "Where is that bag of treats? Are we out already?"_

 _It didn't take him long to find his mother as his nose led him into the living room. She and his older sister Hana were huddled close together on the couch, their voices blending together in a hushed quasi-argument._

" _Ma, the treats…"Kiba started but his request trailed off as he saw what his mother and sister were holding between them._

 _Unraveled over their laps was a short scroll made from parchment that appeared far too expensive to just be a regular missive. He couldn't make out the curvy writing but he was very familiar with the Hyuuga crest that was inlaid boldly at the top._

" _What is that?" he asked._

" _Kiba…" his mother said hesitantly as Hana frantically began rolling up the scroll. "Kiba maybe you should sit down."_

" _No." he replied with a shake of his head. "Tell me what that is."_

 _His mother closed her eyes and ran a hesitant hand through her messy hair. He didn't need to read the scroll to know that what it contained would make him feel worried._

" _Hinata is…Hinata is…"_

" _Hyuuga Hinata is getting married." Hana said flatly when it appeared that their mother was unable to utter the words. "The invitation for our clan to send a representative to the ceremony just arrived only a few moments ago."…._

….No, there weren't too many things that got underneath the Inuzuka's skin but anything that had to do with Hinata was personal. Kiba growled as he recalled his sister's words She and his mother had tried their best to keep him from leaving the property but he was much too fast for them.

Hyuuga Hinata is getting married.

Hyuuga Hinata is getting married.

Hinata, _his Hinata_ , was getting married.

It was unbelievable. He'd barely seen her immediately after the war and for the last seven or eight months, he had not even been able to catch a whiff of her scent in passing. He'd thought she'd just been busy at the hospital, at least that was what Naruto had claimed. Kiba's frown deepened as he clenched his fists tighter and jumped from roof to roof even faster. Naruto should have told him that he and Hinata were together that day that he'd asked about her. Why didn't he? Was he was afraid that he would be upset?

He loved Hinata but he wasn't _in_ love with her. She was like a little sister to him. She and Shino were members of his pack and as such, it was his duty to protect them. He couldn't do that if he didn't know what was going on in their lives! Kiba let out a frustrated huff as he landed in front of the Uzumaki's apartment building and sniffed. The jinchuriki's scent was all over the building but particularly concentrated in a corner on the fourth floor. He took to the stairs two at a time, his frustration and anger mounting the closer he got. When he reached the front door he banged loudly against the steel. A different scent mingled with Naruto's but he pushed that information to the back of his mind and continued pounding.

"Naruto!" he shouted through the door. "Naruto! I know you're in there!"

He could hear the shuffling of feet scurrying towards him but he kept pounding on the door. He wasn't leaving until he got an explanation as to why he and Hinata had kept their relationship a secret. With a loud click, the front door opened but it wasn't Naruto that answered the door.

"Stop banging!" Sakura hissed angrily.

Kiba stood there blankly with his fist still raised, staring wide-eyed at the pink haired kunoichi in front of him. Sakura's narrowed green eyes widened as she stared at him as well and took a hesitant half step away from the door.

"Kiba." She gasped.

The brunette blinked, trying his best to make sense of why Sakura was even there in the first place. Naruto's smell was all over the place, especially her, so he knew that he had not knocked on the wrong door. He had a million questions running through his head but the only thing that stayed in the forefront of his mind was that fact that she stood before him in nothing but an old baggy t-shirt. He swallowed thickly and lowered his fist.

"Sakura…where the hell are your pants?"

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming Just**


	11. Becoming Just

**CCNote** **: Gah! I'm so happy that so many of you are enjoying the story. Some of you have remarked on the frequency of my updates. Some weeks I'm able to churn out three chapters others just one. My inspiration hits me at random times and I'm just too unreliable to keep a steady schedule for updates. This is just a stress reliever/time killer for me but if Beyonce can do a nearly two-hour** **show flawlessly after just giving birth to twins I have no excuse not to update even if it's sporadic. So, have me on alerts so you never miss a chapter! Also, sorry if things feel a bit cliffy. This chapter was initially twice as long but I cut it in half to give all scenes in the second half justice. Anyways, please enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Just**

Kiba frowned as he took a step into the small apartment and sniffed the air. Naruto was here. His scent coated everything but underneath that was a subtle scent of cherry blossoms that he knew should not belong. It mixed with Naruto's usual smell and would have only been possible if the owner had been staying in this apartment for some time. That owner was _not_ Hinata. His upper lip curled as he approached Sakura and took in her state of undress. She was far too comfortable here.

"Did you spend the night with him?"

"Kiba-" Sakura started. "Kiba what are you doing here?"

"You're disgusting." He spat and Sakura jumped a bit in surprise at his tone.

"What are you talking about-"

"You just couldn't stand the fact that he got over his stupid crush, could you? Or did you get bored waiting around for a traitor?"

"Kiba, you're not making any sense right now."

"I'm not making any sense?" he laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's rich. And I thought you were supposed to be smart."

What didn't make sense is why _she_ was here in the first place. Where was Hinata? If she and Naruto were getting married her scent should be somewhere. He sniffed and took a few more steps into the apartment. In his mind's eye, he could see all of the years Hinata trailed behind Naruto just hoping that he would turn around and notice her. Even though Naruto was ignorant to her admiration everyone else knew exactly how she felt…

…" _Man it's too fucking hot!" Kiba groaned, pulling his shirt over his head with great difficulty due to the amount of sweat that he'd accumulated._

" _That's the sixteenth time you've said that." Shino stated blandly._

 _Kiba glared at his male counterpart who still kept his jacket zipped all the way up, seemingly impervious to the heat that was bearing down on them. It was insane that the man hadn't had a heat stroke yet. Even Hinata had removed her jacket, which was a rare feat. That only served to show that it was, in fact, took fucking hot._

" _No one asked you." Kiba snapped and laid out on the grass in defeat. The sun had thoroughly drained_ _all of his energy_ _._

 _Shino stood next to him, his tall frame casting a shadow over his prone form. He held out his hand steadily as a beetle buzzed into their vicinity and landed on his finger. A few feet away from them Hinata continued to practice her taijutsu against a battered wooden post. Despite how hot it was she hadn't complained once nor had she taken a break._ _Kiba wanted to stop her before she fainted from exhaustion but he knew that it was no use._

' _We should all try our best to get stronger. Everyone is training so hard.'_

 _The Inuzuka frowned as he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Hinata's hands hitting the wood. It went without saying that 'everyone' meant 'Naruto'. The loudmouth had been off training for the last year with one of the legendary Sanin_ _. Kiba personally found it unfortunate that a Sanin_ _couldn't just fall into his lap to train him but he was improving in his own way. Kurenai was a competent teacher. By the time Naruto got back, he'd challenge_ _him to see just how much their skills matched up._

" _How much longer do you think she'll go today?" Shino asked._

 _Although his voice was as monotonous as always there was a hint of concern woven into his words._ _Kiba shrugged in response and opened his eyes. Hinata was not going to listen to them if they tried to make her take a break._

" _She'll keep going till she can't I guess."_

" _Hmmm." Shino hummed thoughtfully before releasing the beetle on his finger. "Neji gets back from his mission today."_

 _At those words,_ _Kiba's eyes snapped open. If they brought Hinata back to the compound in her usual exhausted state, Neji would be sure to murder them. Hinata's pride be damned, he did not want a repeat of the last time they'd brought her home injured. He shuddered, vividly recalling Neji's deadpanned eyes as he had stalked menacingly_ _behind them for a week. Jumping to his feet he sprinted over to where Hinata was still training and scooped her up._

" _K-k-Kiba_ _!" she squeaked in surprise as he continued to run with her in his arms. "What are you doing?"_

" _We're taking a break."_

 _Hinata frowned at him and tried her best to give him a stern look but it didn't really work. Her sweaty hair and puffed out cheeks gave off an impression more akin to a wet pup than an angry kunoichi. She squirmed in his ar_ _ms but she wasn't very effective since she'd already sapped a lot of her strength out on the post._

" _I don't need a break." Hinata protested._

" _I'm the one that needs the break." Shino said, his silent footsteps keeping up with Kiba as they began jumping through the trees._

" _But-"_

" _When Naruto returns he will surely recognize your improvements."_

" _I- I-That's not-"_

 _Kiba laughed as the stuttering kunoichi in his arms blushed beet red and covered her face with both of her hands from Shino's blunt statement. At least now she was too embarrassed to fight him off…_

He and Shino never discouraged her crush on Naruto. It was something that kept her always striving to do better than her best. Her determination and open heart were what they loved the most about her. However, because Hinata had always worn her heart on her sleeve, every time it was bruised it had been up to him and Shino to repair it. If she found out that Naruto was cheating on her with Sakura she would be utterly crushed. He and Shino would not be able to pick up the pieces.

"I think you should leave." Sakura said firmly and Kiba rolled his eyes.

"I don't even want to be here. Where is Naruto?" he sneered.

"He just got back from his mission. Whatever you need can wait."

Kiba clenched his fists at his side, his nails biting into the fleshy part of his palms. The first thing that idiot does was spend time with Sakura? Who the hell does that when they're getting married?

"Where is Hinata?" Kiba demanded sharply, and Sakura looked away from him sheepishly. Good. At least she had enough sense to feel ashamed of herself. "Does she even know that he's back?"

"Kiba-"

"Aren't you supposed to be her friend? You of all people _know_ how she feels about Naruto."

At that Sakura turned away from him, her arms wrapped protectively around herself. If she wanted sympathy she wasn't getting any from him. She'd probably caught wind of Naruto and Hinata's engagement and came to throw a wrench in it. As he opened his mouth to ask again where Naruto was, a door opened down the hall.

"Sakura-chan what kind of shampoo was that?" Naruto's boisterous voice called as he approached them. "It made my head feel tingly, oh hey Kiba! What are you doing here so early? Did Kakashi-sensei send you?"

Naruto smiled at him with a towel wrapped around his shoulders and a pair of shorts hanging low on his waist. Kiba growled, his lips curling back to expose his teeth which were rapidly growing sharper. There were no thoughts running through his mind as he cocked his fist back and charged at the man in front of him.

"Kiba no!" Sakura shouted and threw all of her weight into tackling him to the ground.

The force of his body hitting the floor sent a spiderweb of cracks into the hardwood. Before he could get up, Sakura was already straddling his waist with a chakra laden fist only a few inches above his face. He growled at her, his sharp teeth fully bared and his anger unabated by the clear danger to his own wellbeing.

"And here I thought you would actually be a good Hokage but you're just like any other pathetic man." he said through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed at the confused blonde.

"What the hell are you talking about Kiba?" Naruto asked as he picked an unwilling Sakura up off of him and placed her behind his back. He held out an arm to his side and Kiba wasn't quite sure if it was to protect her or him from further attacks.

Kiba sniffed indignantly and lifted himself up to balance on his forearms.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Or have you already forgotten about your engagement?"

"Engagement?" Naruto sputtered. "I'm not getting married."

Kiba's eyes widened as he watched the confused looks Naruto and Sakura exchanged with one another and found his own anger morphing into more of the same. The word 'engagement' was one that both of them appeared to be unfamiliar with. If Naruto was not getting married then that meant-

"Kiba." Sakura started, her voice tight and her green eyes narrowed. "Why would you think that Naruto was the one getting married?"

'Shit.'

He should have stayed at home and read the rest of the invitation.

 **…..**

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Hey! Welcome back!"

"Good ta see ya kid!"

Naruto smiled and waved at the villagers he passed, his mouth tight and hand stiff. As he walked through the streets of Konoha, everywhere he went people would stop what they were doing just to say hello or to get a glimpse of his passing by. Once upon a time, he would have reveled in their admiration but right now it was all he could do to keep a smile on his face. Hinata was getting married. He'd been too late.

"Dammit." Naruto cursed under his breath as he made his way through the village. "This is all my fault."

Kiba's information from only a few hours ago kept running through his mind. Hinata was getting married and it most certainly wasn't to him. The Hyuuga were not the most patient people and it wasn't like he'd made his intentions about Hinata known to them. Heck, he barely knew what his own intentions _were._ He cared deeply for Hinata but enough to marry her? He couldn't imagine marrying anyone right now. They were all way too young to start getting married anyway. Sure the life of a shinobi was short but this was a time of peace.

Why were the Hyuuga rushing? They must have found some really rich and influential guy for her to marry. Konoha was bereft of those kinds of qualifications at the moment so the person Hinata was marrying had to be from another village. The thought of Hinata being forced to marry a stranger and leave the village made him sick to his stomach. He frowned and picked up the pace of his walk to get to the Hyuuga compound faster without raising suspicion. So far it appeared that only the heads of Konoha's clans knew about the large wedding ceremony the Hyuugas were planning but it was only matter of time before word spread throughout the village. Before that happened he had to convince the Hyuugas to call off the wedding.

He wasn't quite sure if he was even able to do something like that. He wasn't the Hokage and even if he was, these kinds of matters were usually kept within the confines of a clan. He had no plan, no grand speech, but he knew he couldn't let Hinata go. She belonged here with her family and friends. She fought hard to protect this village. Neji had sacrificed himself so that she could continue living the way she wanted to. He couldn't allow something like this to happen, not if he could help it!

"Naruto!" a familiar voice in the distance called. "Hey Naruto!"

The blonde stopped in his tracks and spun around to see a small herd of children stampeding towards him. Trailing closely after the children was his old teacher Iruka, a slightly panicked smile on his face as he waved. Naruto barely had time to reply before the first child had already latched onto his leg and then three more after him.

"It's really him!" a little brunette girl squealed in awe.

"Hey do a shadow clone!" a little voice behind him shouted, pulling at his pants leg.

"Do ten shadow clones! No, wait! Do a hundred!"

"No do that glowing yellow thing!"

"Do Rasengan!"

"Sorry about this Naruto." Iruka panted as he finally caught up with the swarming children. He bent over the waist and tried his best to catch his breath. "They saw you from the academy window."

"The academy's reopened?" Naruto asked as children as high as his kneecaps started pushing each other to get closer to him. Iruka scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"No, uh actually I might need your help with that. Most of the school is still under construction but we try to keep the special cases occupied during the day. All of the civilian schools are full and well…they aren't able to handle shinobi offspring."

Naruto looked down at the grubby hands that pawed at his clothes and vyed for his attention. Civilian schools would not be able to able children that couldn't keep their chakra under control, especially if they possessed a more temperamental kekkegenkai. Plus he knew what 'special cases' meant. He had been a 'special case'…an orphan with more time on his hands than he knew what to do with. Even though his old teacher was clearly being overworked it was better than having the kids roam the streets looking for things to get into like he had. He smiled and lowered himself into a crouch, opening his arms for the kids to all violently jump into. They hooked their hands around his limbs and when he stood up a few of them fell off but a couple managed to keep swinging, their little legs kicking back and forth in the air.

"What do you need my help with Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked and the kids gasped in awe.

"Iruka-sensei was _your_ sensei?"

"That's so cool!"

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! Teach us cool jutsus too!"

Iruka scratched the back of his head as the kids started to swarm his legs as well.

"As you can see they're quite the handful." The older man laughed. "I know you're probably busy and I wouldn't ask you unless I really needed it but do you mind helping out for a bit?"

Naruto playfully bounced the kids swinging on his arms and they squealed with delight as they struggled to hold on. Down below big eyes and tiny hands pleaded with him to play with them too and he just couldn't say no.

"Please Naruto!"

"Show us cool jutsus!"

"Please! Please! Please!"

"Alright! Alright!" Naruto sighed playfully and the children cheered, jumping up and down in their excitement. Iruka pressed a hand against his own chest and let out a deep breath of relief.

"Thanks, Naruto. This will really be a big help."

Naruto smiled and lowered the swinging kids back to the ground. Two very eager little girls grabbed his hands and began forcefully pulling him towards the 'academy' before he had a chance to change his mind. As he followed the children he looked back towards the path that he'd been heading down and his stomach twisted in knots. He'd been diverted from confronting the Hyuuga for now but as soon as the children were settled to a manageable level he would make his way to the compound.

'Just wait a bit longer Hina-chan.' Naruto thought to himself. 'I'll figure out a way to help you.'

 **…..**

The balmy midmorning sun bore down heavily upon the nearly uninhabited Uchiha district. Despite its lack of residents, it was most assuredly not silent. The rumble of wagons carting away rubble, clanging of pickaxes, and the whir of chainsaws synchronized together to provide a cacophonous din to what would otherwise be a boring afternoon. Hinata was undeterred by the chaos that surrounded her home at the moment. The weather was much too nice to stay inside and after so much rain, the sun was more than welcome.

"There." Hinata sighed, as she pulled the rope tight to the metal pole.

She flicked her finger on the line to ensure that it was pulled taut enough. Satisfied with her work, she stepped down from her stool and looked over to where she'd set Sasuke to work almost thirty minutes ago. He sat shirtless in front of a large metal washbin, his arms coated up to the elbow in soapy water.

Hinata hid a small smile behind her hand as she watched him continue to scrub the same sheet she'd originally set him to work on with such a vigor. One would have thought that the sheet had slighted him by how roughly she scrubbed it against the washboard and his brow scrunched up in concentration. She crossed the distance between him and the newly assembled clothesline, watching curiously as the Uchiha was quickly becoming winded but didn't stop his work. It was actually kind of cute that he was so through about cleaning a sheet.

Mildly psychotic but still cute.

"Uchiha-san." She said, hoping her amusement didn't seep through her voice. "I think it's clean enough."

He paused in his actions, the soapy water sloshing around inside of the brim.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and reached out to his left where she'd placed the rest of their sheets in a basket.

Biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing at him, she pulled the very well scrubbed sheet from the basin just as Sasuke put in a new one. The sound of water hitting the sides of the metal bin accompanied the noise of construction and she took the sheet to hang onto the clothesline. Once she had it clipped up securely she worked on ringing out as much water from the material as possible, saying a silent prayer all the while in hopes that the sun would dry their sheets by the time it had set.

As she worked, every so often she chanced a glance at her companion. Sasuke had been fairly docile since she'd found him in the forest. Docile in that he hadn't verbally torn her to shreds or recoiled when she touched him. Most people wouldn't notice the difference in his demeanor. He was still cold. Still frustratingly ambiguous with his needs. Yet, even though the change was small, it was still there. She was in no way attempting to hurry the change along though. She did not suffer from grand illusions that Sasuke would ever come to care for her the way she'd always dreamed her future husband would. He would never shower her with kisses. When his sight returned he would never tell her she was beautiful. Uchiha Sasuke would never love her but they could become civil towards one another. Civil was good enough right? It wasn't ideal but it was certainly something to strive for.

It took another hour but soon all of the sheets and pillowcases had been thoroughly cleaned, ringed out, and hung. Hinata admired the way the breeze picked the white sheets up, waving them like flags against a decimated backdrop. It wouldn't be like that for long though. Soon all of the old building would be gone and in their place would be nothing and everything at the same time. Turning her attention away from the sheets, she dragged the metal basin away from the Uchiha and turned it over to dump out all of the dirty water.

"You did well Uchiha-san." She said as she placed a hand on his shoulder to indicate that he should stand.

"Sasuke." He replied but didn't stand up.

Hinata blinked for a moment, confused by his response. Did he want her to call him by his first name?

"Sasuke-san." She said. His name felt strange on her tongue. Sasuke rolled his eyes and finally stood up from his stool.

"Just Sasuke."

 _Just_ Sasuke? No san…no sama. Just Sasuke. It felt strange to forgo such formalities. It wasn't a bad feeling just…different. Absently fiddling with a loose thread on the edge of her lavender shirt she looked away from the Uchiha and boldy made a request of her own.

"Hinata." She said as she felt his blank gaze turn on to her. "Not Hyuuga or Hinata-sama. Just…just Hinata."

She couldn't explain why but for a moment she held her breath, the ringing of hammers in the background filling up the empty space between them. That is until a rather telltale grumble of the Uchiha's stomach broke the tension. Hinata looked away from him, covering her mouth with her hand to unnecessarily hide her smile.

 **…..**

Sasuke frowned as a small snicker escaped from the woman next to him on the bed. She'd been giggling sporadically all night and he was _not_ about to get any sleep if she kept this up. With a grunt, he rolled over onto his other side and tried his best to glare in her general direction.

"Oh!" she squeaked.

'Oh indeed.' Sasuke thought with an irritated grunt that managed to escape from his lips.

"Am I keeping you up?" she asked. "I- I can go back to my room-"

"No."

If she left one of two things would happen. Either he'd suffer from nightmares or he wouldn't be able to sleep at all. Both outcomes outweighed the inconvenience of her being in his bed. He just needed her to _stop giggling_. What the hell was so funny anyway?

"What are you doing?" he asked. Not that he really cared but it was clear that whatever was making her laugh wasn't going to allow him to sleep anytime soon.

"I'm just reading." She replied, a hint of guilt in her voice.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he sat up on the bed. Reading? Shinobi didn't have time to read, especially not for leisure. Well, if he remembered correctly, Kakashi had always found time to read his perverted romance novels but Sasuke counted him as more of an exception than a rule. Wait- was she giggling because she read the same kind of books? Leave it up to a sheltered heiress to read filth. There was a rustling of pages as she scooted closer to him, the side of her arm brushing briefly against his own.

"What are you reading?" he asked, forcing himself not to back away from her because there was only so much room on the bed.

"It's a book of poems and quotes that I picked up on my last mission out of the village." She said and Sasuke inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't sleeping next to a closet pervert. "I haven't been able to leave the village lately but I've been so busy that I'm only getting to read it now."

An unspoken 'because of you' clung to the end of her words. Sasuke frowned and reached out to grab her book. He could hardly remember a time when he'd held something so frivolous in his hands. Lazily, he flipped through the pages, occasionally running his fingers over print that he couldn't see.

"Uchi-I mean Sasuke-would…would you like me to read to you?" she asked and he didn't reply.

He didn't _not_ want her to read. As if she could read his mind, she moved even closer to him, her cheek brushing against his shoulder as she read the book he kept in his lap. The poems she read were nothing special to him and the quotes were hardly insightful. The ones she found funny weren't really all that funny but it was mildly entertaining to hear the different inflections of her soft voice. It was much better to listen to her speak than remain trapped in his own thoughts.

"This next one is by an unknown author." Hinata said when he flipped the page to the next poem. "It's better to take the path unforged than to continue wallowing in familiar mud."

Sasuke snorted and closed the book, sinking down into the bed. He listened to Hinata pull at the cord of a nearby lamp before she laid down next to him.

"Those are the words of a man that has never dirtied his hands." He mumbled as she pulled the sheets higher around her. He would never be able to understand how she could sleep covered when it was so humid.

"Hmmm, I think that he's someone who has suffered too much."

Sasuke only grunted and closed his eyes. What did she know anyway? She was an heiress after all. She knew nothing of a life that others would call improper. She knew nothing of 'wallowing in mud'.

"I think…I think it means that it's okay to move forward even when you can't see where you're going." She said. "What do you think?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and turned his back to her.

"Uchi- Sasuke-"

"Go to bed." he said flatly.

She complied quickly with his request for silence but a nagging feeling tugged at the back of his mind. He would never admit it but the quiet was beginning to bother him after all of the reading she'd done. He didn't want to be left on his own.

"Hinata." He said and the woman next to him squeaked at the sound of her name. Her name had fallen from his lips unwittingly and for the first time, the sour taste of malice wasn't it's companion.

"Do you have more books?"

 **…...**

"You need to be sure to keep your cool."

Naruto nodded, adjusting the strap of Sakura's duffle bag on his shoulder. He could keep his cool. He was a cool person right? Right.

"Hinata is not the kind of girl that would walk into an arranged marriage lightly. There is a reason for it." Sakura said, taking his hand in hers and giving it a light squeeze. " Maybe you'll be able to change her mind but you will have to respect whatever decision she's made."

"So you think she actually _wants_ to marry a stranger?" Naruto asked incredulously. Sakura squeezed his hand again and kept her eyes trained on the path ahead to the Uchiha District.

"Hinata is someone that doesn't back away from her word, just like you. I don't think what she wants plays into this."

Naruto nodded his head and focused on keeping one foot in front of the other. Despite Sakura's rationale of the situation, it didn't make him feel anything less than crummy. After spending the rest of the day at the 'academy' it had been too late to go to the Hyuuga compound. The kids had begged him to return the next day and it wasn't like he could deny them.

That had been two days ago.

Everywhere he went there were demands for his assistance., not that he minded helping, but it kept getting him sidetracked from what he was really supposed to be doing and he was horrible with the word 'no'. Luckily Sakura had agreed to be his excuse for the day after she realized that he was not going to be able to make it to the Hyuuga compound on his own to speak with Hiashi.

He had also been surprised to find out though that Hinata was no longer living with the Hyuuga but was staying in what remained of the Uchiha District with Sasuke. It was reassuring that Sasuke had someone to care for him and he knew that Hinata was doing a very good job according to Sakura. The bastard probably didn't appreciate Hinata's efforts but it made him feel comforted that his rival was recovering well. If he was getting better as fast as Sakura had told him maybe they might be able to start training together soon.

"Alright, we're here." Sakura announced, breaking the blonde man from his thoughts. "The demolition crew did a good job I think. It was a pretty tall order after all."

Naruto looked around at the empty space around them where only a single house stood. It was a simple, single floor structure with peeling paint and crumbling roof tiles. Outside of the two Anbu operatives, one perched in a tree nearby and another on the roof, it was painfully ordinary to look at. It was still a far cry better than his own tiny apartment. He followed Sakura up the gravel path to the front door and tried to go over what he would say to Hinata when he saw her. What did one say in a situation like this? Don't get married? Mentally Naruto snorted. Even he knew that he needed to come up with something more eloquent than that.

"That's funny." Sakura said as she knocked on the door but didn't receive an answer.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders at the lack of a response from the occupants inside. Sasuke was used to him barging in unannounced to his hospital room, this was no different. Twisting the doorknob, he found the front door already unlocked and let himself into the house.

"Hey bastard I'm back!" he said loudly and it earned him a sharp punch to the side of his arm.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed but he ignored her reprimand.

The entire house was silent. Sakura looked back at him, a similar look of worry overcoming her features as well. Where in the world could the Uchiha have gone? Was Hinata okay? A mild sense of panic started to set in but was soon quelled when a faint laugh reached his ears from an open window. The two trespassers turned their attention to the sliding door that led to the backyard and quickly made their way towards it. As they did the laughter died down and there was a bit of rustling.

"That was stupid." Came Sasuke's muffled voice through the door.

"It was cute." Was Hinata's weak retort. "Maybe it was only a little stupid."

"Hn. Continue."

Naruto scrunched up his brows and slid open the back door, curious as to what the two could be talking about. Upon opening the door he found the pair lounging on the back deck. Hinata was leaning against a post, a rather large picture book in her lap and the traces of amusement still on her face. A little ways away from her, Sasuke was laid out on the deck with an arm over his eyes to protect his face from the sun. He didn't move when the door opened or even acknowledge that there was another presence in the room. Hinata on the other hand immediately looked up at them in surprise, her mouth slightly agape.

"Hey, Hina-chan." Naruto said, suddenly feeling awkward for intruding upon the two of them.

It was odd. There was an ample amount of space between them and Hinata had only been reading a book but he felt like he'd stepped into space where he didn't belong. A moment that he was not supposed to be privy to. Hinata looked up at him the same as she always had but something was off. Standing up slowly with the picture book clutched tightly to her chest, she smiled at him but it didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Naruto…welcome back."

Naruto blinked and it felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the room. It was merely a small change, a minute shift that felt like a punch to the gut.

' _Not Naruto-kun…just Naruto.'_

 _ **To be continued**_ **….** **Becoming a Mess**


	12. Becoming a Mess

**CCNote** **: Hey y'all! Not much to say for this note. Anywho, grab a glass of wine (it's five o'clock somewhere) and enjoy this new chapter. Don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Mess**

Sakura bit her bottom lip as the living room clock ticked incessantly in the background. With each new second that slipped past, her own anxiety seemed to spike higher and higher. It didn't help that Naruto kept tapping his foot under the table, his own nervous energy leeching off onto her. Across from them, Sasuke sat with an utterly bored expression on his face, his cheek resting in one hand while he occasionally tapped the table with the other. His hair, which was still rather long, looked as though it had gotten a trim since the last time she saw him and a bit of color had returned to his skin. He still hadn't put on enough weight but he was getting better. She'd have to do her usual check up to be sure but outwardly he looked to be improving.

'Hinata really is doing a good job.' Sakura thought as she watched the dark-haired kunoichi enter the room with a tray of apple slices.

That was a good thing right? It was _good_ that Sasuke was being taken care of even if it wasn't by her own hands right? Her rational mind told her that it was so and yet she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. As she placed the plate of apples in the middle of the table, the rhythm of Naruto's foot hitting the floor picked up. It took everything in her not to jab him between the ribs to get him to stop.

"We weren't expecting company today." Hinata said softly, clutching the now empty tray to her chest like a shield. "The tea will be done soon but I wish I could offer you more."

"This is fine Hina-chan! Anything you give us will be perfect." Naruto said with more enthusiasm than should have been warranted.

Hinata quickly turned red at his words and scurried away into the kitchen. The blonde sank back into his chair in defeat at her departure and resumed his nervous foot tapping. Sakura sighed and reached for an apple slice. Naruto was going to give the poor Hyuuga a heart attack if he didn't ease up a little bit. Across the table, Sasuke's bored expression was morphing into one of mild irritation.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto whispered hurriedly as Sakura took a bite of her apple. "Sasuke!"

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto stood up and craned his neck to see if Hinata was coming around the corner before sitting back down again.

"Hina-chan-"

"Hinata."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked and Sakura paused mid-chew.

"Hn."

"Oookay." Naruto said awkwardly, confused as to what Sasuke's issue was. "Anyway has Hina-chan…has she talked to you about an arranged marriage?"

Sakura observed Sasuke's reaction to the news anxiously but his face remained a blank slate. Whether he knew about the arranged marriage or not the knowledge of its existence didn't appear to faze him. Naruto frowned at their former teammate's apathy but pressed on anyway.

"If she hasn't spoken to you about it yet she probably will soon. We need to figure out a way to get her out of this. I don't know if Kakashi-sensei can do anything but perhaps he could help us persuade the Hyuuga-"

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"I mean exactly that."

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura interrupted, placing a hand on Naruto's forearm to keep his already short temper from spiking. "Naruto just wants to help keep Hinata here in the village with her family and friends. I think we can all agree that's best. If you're able to talk to her about staying-"

"Hn." Sasuke snorted, his lips curling slightly upward with amusement. "So now you know what is best for her like you know what's best for me."

The screeching of the tea kettle punctuated his words and allowed them to hang over the three of them. Naruto's mouth hung open, whatever protest he had died in his throat. Sakura felt her own heart twist in pain as Naruto struggled to think of something to say. He'd worked so hard to get Sasuke back. That promise that he'd made to her all those years ago to bring Sasuke back to the village had also been to himself. She moved her hand from his forearm to his shoulder, hoping to convey a sense of comfort in spite of the tense atmosphere that had taken over the room. Sasuke, on the other hand, was not fazed by the harm that his verbal jab had caused. Instead, he reached out and grabbed an apple slice, lazily bitting into it just as Hinata reentered the room.

"Sorry about the wait." Hinata said, her dark brows drawing together as she noted the tension between them. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine Hina-chan." Naruto replied, placing his usual mask of exuberance back on. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"Talk to me?"

"Yes, could we talk in private?"

Hinata placed the tray of tea on the table and started to remove the apron around her waist but Sasuke grabbed her wrist.

"He wants to talk about the marriage contract." Sasuke said and Hinata's eyes widened exponentially.

"Sasuke I think we should give them time alone-" Sakura started but recoiled slightly when Sasuke's dark eyes glared at a point just past her shoulder.

"Whatever he has to say he can say it here."

Naruto stood up from his chair and slammed his hands down on the table.

"You're being a real ass today ya know that? If you've got a bone to pick with me, save it for later." he snapped before turning to Hinata. "Kiba told me about the arranged marriage. You don't have to do this."

Hinata cast a worried glance at Sasuke who was still holding her wrist but neither one of them moved away from each other. It struck her as almost territorial. Sakura swallowed thickly.

No.

"Naruto. I…I wanted to tell you sooner."

No, this was all just a joke. She was just being paranoid. Unconsciously, her fingers curled into fists as she tried her best to keep her breathing even.

"Hinata we can talk to Kakashi-sensei. Your father will listen to him."

"Naruto I-"

No. Please no.

"You don't have to leave-"

"She's not leaving you idiot." Sasuke grunted, pulling Hinata closer to where he was seated. She shuffled over to his side, her eyes downcast and bottom lip trapped between her teeth. "She's marrying me."

She's marrying me….

She's marrying _me_.

Sakura felt her shoulders begin to shake as she stared at the dark-haired pair across the table. This was a joke. It had to be a joke. A small chuckle escaped her lips, drawing everyone's attention to her but she couldn't stop herself. That single chuckle turned into two, two into three, and soon she was laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he turned towards her with a worried look in his eye.

Why did he look like that? This was all just a joke. Sasuke was just trying to get under their skin like he always did. Sighing she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye and attempted to get her laughter under control.

"That's a good one." She said with a painful smile on her lips. "I haven't laughed like that in a minute."

"Sakura-san-" Hinata started but Sakura shook her head and rose to her feet.

"Let's go ahead and get this checkup over with. You and Naruto can go talk in the other room if you want."

"Sakura-san-"

"There's a large backlog of patients at the hospital so I won't be able to stay here long."

"Sakura-san!" Hinata said, her voice elevated louder than usual. Sakura blinked in surprise, her smile beginning to falter.

"There's no need to yell Hinata."

Hinata stared at her with pale eyes brimming with unshed tears. Sakura felt her own shoulders begin to slump.

 _She's marrying me._

She turned her gaze towards Sasuke who stared back at her without a hint of emotion. As she looked at him, bit by bit she felt the pieces of her heart shatter. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Hot tears slowly streamed down her cheeks and she covered her face with her hands so she didn't have to see them. She didn't want to see Naruto's concern or Hinata's pity. She didn't want to see Sasuke's utter and complete ambivalence. She wished that she could stop the tears from falling but it was no use.

 _She's marrying me._

"Sakura-san…Naruto…" Hinata said, her soft voice wavering. "I'm sorry."

 **…..**

Night had finally fallen over the Uchiha District and with it came the silence that usually inhabited the house. Well… _almost_ silence. He still had his own thoughts for company and he'd already grown quite tired of himself. After the day he had, he would have appreciated some peace and quiet. Sasuke frowned as he listened to the small grunts and slaps from the Hyuuga woman who refused to come back inside. She wouldn't be this worked up if Naruto and Sakura had not decided to pay them a visit.

He would have been perfectly content to continue their afternoon as it had been going but _no_. Those two always managed to stir shit up whenever it had just calmed down. Now he was stuck waiting for Hinata to tire herself out enough to come to bed but that was unlikely to happen any time soon. With a frustrated grunt, he ran his hands through his hair and leaned against the deck railing. He just wanted to go to sleep. Was that too much to ask?

"Hinata." He called out but she didn't respond. Lips, curling he raised his voice. "Hinata!"

There was some heavy panting as she caught her breath but the sound of slapping had ceased.

"Come to bed." He said simply.

"I will just be a little longer. Please…please go on without me."

Sasuke frowned. He could hear the pathetic quivering in her voice and the way she sniffed midway through her rejection. She was _crying_. He could not handle a crying woman.

"You are crying about Naruto and Sakura." He said simply, gripping the deck railing as he descended each step one at a time. Slowly but surely he made his way to where she was by the sound of her voice, reaching out and finally touching something solid.

"I…I'm sorry." She sniffed.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, his irritation and fatigue shining through. "You signed the contract of your own free will yes?"

"Y-yes but-"

"Then you knew that there would be consequences. There is no sense apologizing for actions that other people don't like."

"There was a better way to tell them."

"Is lying any better? Or would you have rathered we waited until our wedding day?"

Hinata sniffed and took a step away from him. She might not have appreciated his blunt delivery but he knew that it was better to rip off the band-aid than to let it fester. He'd honestly thought that she'd informed Sakura of the arrangement a long time ago. It wasn't his fault that Hinata had allowed the woman to get her hopes up only to have them subsequently crushed. He might not be the nicest person but he was _not_ the bad guy here.

"Sakura-san…" Hinata whispered despondently. "She…she really loved you."

"I never asked her to." He replied curtly.

He'd never accepted Sakura's affection. As a child, he'd seen her was nothing more than a hindrance to increasing his own power. When her feelings prevailed into adulthood, he couldn't fathom why she still clung to them. He had not done anything to earn her loyalty nor her love.

"You can't help who you love." Hinata protested weakly.

"Then it's not my fault if she feels hurt."

It _wasn't_. It _wasn't_ his fault that she'd left the house crying. It _wasn't_ his fault that she'd put him on a pedestal. It _wasn't_ his fault that he was unable to love her back. His capacity for such an emotion had died the day he took Itachi's life. Frowning, he reached out to touch Hinata and his hand landed on her shoulder. He then trailed down to her wrist where he pulled her a bit forward, her feet shuffling reluctantly over uneven ground.

"I'm tired." He said, her wrist hanging limply in his grip.

"I'm not." She replied softly and her slender wrist slipped through his fingers.

Soon the humid night air was once more filled with the sound of grunts and slapping. Sasuke ran a tired hand over his face and sank down into the grass. It appeared that tonight, he was on her time.

 **….**

Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets as he made his way to the recently cleared out Uchiha District. While all of the decrepit buildings had been torn apart and carted away the phrase 'ghost town' was still an apt description of the property. It felt like an entire lifetime ago but he remembered a time with the Uchiha had roamed these paths proudly, their eyes the envy of people far and wide. Now all that was left of their legacy was a storage of aging scrolls, a crumbling house, and a single uncooperative descendant.

Shaking his head at the thought of his petulant charge he eyed the Anbu operatives that were keeping watch over the house. Once they saw him they quickly left their positions and appeared in front of him in a low crouch. He hated to keep two of his most skilled shinobi on watch duty but it couldn't be helped. Even after the wedding was over, especially when his eyesight was returned, Sasuke would not have the trust of the village. It would be a long time before that ever happened but he hoped that they would be able to mend the bridges he burned. The sooner they did so the better.

"Report." Kakashi said and the two Anbu rose from their crouched positions.

"The target has continued with their normal routine. No suspicious activity sir." One of them said and the other snorted indignantly behind their mask. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at them and they coughed awkwardly in a failed attempt to hide their contempt.

"He's allowed the Dove more liberties than before sir. We can't let our guard down, he might try to manipulate her to his own ends."

At that news, Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. It appeared as though Sasuke was warming up to Hinata. As his operative had informed him, he _could_ just be trying to get Hinata to lower her defenses so that he could plan an escape. He wouldn't put it past Sasuke to do something like that, however, he didn't believe the boy would be able to execute his plans if it ever came down to it. In any case, he wanted to witness the supposed softening with his own eyes before he came to any conclusions.

"Where is he now?" Kakashi asked and both Anbu pointed at the house.

"They're in the garden." One of them said.

'Garden?' Kakashi thought as he left his operatives to return to their posts and walked around to the back of the house. 'Perhaps he really is getting soft.'

As he turned the corner to the backyard, he was surprised to find a shirtless Sasuke covered up to his elbows in dark-colored soil. His raven hair clung to his forehead, sweat dripping down from his face and into the dirt. With more care than Kakashi thought he could possess, Sasuke patted down the soil around a small, green, seedling until it was packed sufficiently. It was odd to see him care for something so fragile when he had hands that only seemed to destroy. Quickly closing the distance between himself and his pupil, he crouched down next to him and placed a heavy hand on top of his head. The Uchiha immediately tensed at the unexpected physical contact which only made the Hokage's smirk turn into a full smile. He truly was letting his guard down.

"Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke." Kakashi teased. "What am I going to do with you?"

The boy brushed his hand off of his head and scowled.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Must I always want something from you? Maybe I just wanted to pay my favorite student a visit. Think of it as a friendly house call. After all, it's been awhile since the last time we spoke and I miss you."

Sasuke did not seem to find any levity within his words and rose to stand at his full height. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi noticed Hinata leaving the house with a rather large watering can in her possession. When she saw him, her pale eyes widened and she sent him a small smile.

"Hokage-sama." She said as she came to stand by Sasuke's side. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"State your business and leave."

Kakashi stood up and smirked at their juxtaposition. Hinata was much too sweet for his student's sour soul. As much as he wanted to continue poking the boy he still had a mountain of paperwork to sift through and people that demanded his attention. He couldn't wait for the day that Naruto would finally be able to take over. With any luck, that day would be fairly soon.

"Sasuke you wound me." Kakashi said, placing a hand over his own heart. "I thought you would be excited to talk with your old sensei."

The Uchiha frowned but didn't reply.

"Hinata-san, how do you think Sasuke is progressing?" he asked and the petite woman looked her taller, dirtier counterpart up and down.

"He's doing well. His spatial awareness is getting better. Seventy percent of his pathways are clear. Stamina is increasing by the day."

"Good, good." Kakashi said with a thoughtful nod. Sasuke's improvement was great news. Now all they had to do was not allow his talent to go to waste. "I will have to speak with the council but that is a non-issue."

"Speak to the council about what?" Sasuke asked, spitting the word 'council' out as if it were a curse.

"You're training of course. Don't tell me you plan to allow yourself to wither away into a civilian?"

At that, for the first time since he'd regained consciousness, a genuine smirk that wasn't filled with ill intent appeared on the Uchiha's face. It was brief but there was no mistaking it. It made Kakashi almost wish that he'd had his Sharingan activated so that he could commit it to memory. For once, he'd actually made Sasuke happy.

"Be ready before dawn."

 **….**

"Sakura, honey!" her mother's muffled voice called through the door. "Are you in there?"

Sakura groaned as he mother began to knock loudly on her door. The sound reverberated painfully in her head and only made her roll over and tried to hide under her pillows. She immediately cursed the motion though for it only succeeded in making her nauseous.

"Do you want something to eat?"

As evenly as she could, she took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. The last thing she needed was to throw up on top of a hangover. The smell of stale sake on her breath wasn't really helping matters.

"Honey please talk to me!"

Instead of answering her mother's calls she continued focusing on her breathing until the nauseous feelings passed. Once they did her mother was gone as well. Sakura closed her eyes and pulled the blankets up over her head. Finally, she had silence. She hated coming home. She loved her parents but they always bombarded her with millions of questions…questions she didn't have to capacity to answer. Being that they were civilians they had no clue about what she did outside of the home. They had no idea the countless lives she'd saved or the many she'd lost. Even when she did try to relate to them it was never enough because it always brought about more questions. Naruto's apartment had been a welcome reprieve but she couldn't go there now. Not like this. Outside of her door, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps return and inwardly she groaned.

"Sakura, you have a visitor." Her mother called.

"Tell them to go away!" Sakura yelled back. She didn't _need_ another person come to try to coax her out of bed. After Ino, she just wanted everyone to leave her the hell alone!

… _.."Sakura." Ino said as she tentatively took a seat on the edge of her bed. "I guess you've heard the news already."_

 _Sakura didn't acknowledge Ino's statement but her grip on her sake bottle tightened and she leaned back against her wall. How many people knew now? The whole damn village probably. They all knew. Every single last one of them. How long had they known? How long had Sasuke and Hinata been engaged? How long had she sat there at the dining table looking stupid? With a sniff, she took a long gulp from her half-empty sake bottle. It didn't even burn going down anymore._

" _I know this had to come as a shock. Hell, I couldn't even believe it myself until I got the missive for flowers."_

 _Flowers, cakes, dresses. All of the things she'd imagined picking out for her own wedding to Sasuke were now being handled by the Hyuuga clan. Sasuke was getting married and it most certainly wasn't to her._

" _Its such a large amount that we'll have to work overtime if we want them done in time for the harvest."_

' _The harvest huh?' Sakura thought to herself as she took another sip of sake. 'The weather will be perfect for a wedding.'_

" _It's okay I guess though. We could certainly use the money from the order. Not too many people are buying flowers nowadays ya know?"_

" _Ino." Sakura said flatly. "Please leave."_

 _Ino shook her head at the request and crawled over the bed to sit next to her._

" _I know you're pretty upset but everything will be okay. You'll get over him. I mean I liked him a lot too but then I meant Sai and now I can't believe how crazy I'd been. You just need to meet a new guy, a better guy."_

 _Sakura knew that Ino was only trying to empathize but it only served to throw her further down into her depression. She didn't_ want _to meet any 'new guys'. Ino had no idea how she felt. She could never understand what it felt like to have the path she'd set for her life ripped out from underneath her. She would never understand the embarrassment and self-loathing that consumed her. Sniffing she took another sip of sake._

" _Sakura, I went with Sai to the hospital and we bumped into Naruto. He was looking for you. Have you talked to him about Sasuke?" Ino asked and Sakura shook her head._

 _She hadn't spoken to Naruto since the day they'd found out about the wedding. He'd tried to follow after her when she left the house but he hadn't been able to catch up. She didn't want him to. If she was near him now he would just try to cheer her up even though he was also hurting. He'd try to keep her head above water but all she wanted to do right now was drown._

" _Hey, how about we go out tonight? There's a new bar that's opened up-"_

" _Ino…please leave."_

" _Sakura-"_

" _Please just leave me alone!"….._

…Sakura groaned as the knocking on her door continued. Why couldn't people just respect her wishes? Couldn't she get at least _one thing_ she wanted?

"Go away!" she growled and the door to her room flew off its hinges.

"Are you really going to tell me to go away?" a familiar voice snapped as they opened the door. "I thought I taught you better than that."

Sakura opened her eyes, blinking into the dim light that filtered through her curtains. Tsunade stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed under her ample bosom and a disapproving scowl on her face.

"Lady Tsunade." She mumbled, feebly attempting to bring her aching body into an upright position. "Good morning."

"It's noon." The blonde said through clenched teeth. "You have not reported to the hospital in two days."

"Oh."

"I heard about the Uchiha wedding and I allowed you a day to mourn because I understand what he meant to you. However, this-" she hissed, kicking one of many empty sake bottles on the floor. "This is unacceptable."

Sakura frowned as she ran a hand through her bedraggled hair. Tsunade was the last person in the world to judge her over how she dealt with her problems. The woman drowned herself in booze and gambling. Their coping mechanisms were not so different. Pushing past the empty sake bottles, Tsunade grabbed her upper arm and pulled to get her out of bed. Sakura feebly followed her, her limbs feeling extraordinarily limp yet aching at the same time.

"Please stop." Sakura groaned, the shaking from being pulled made her feel nauseous all over again.

Tsunade frowned and let go of her, allowing Sakura's limp body to fall back onto the bed. Her eyes began to burn with unshed tears as she listened to the sound of her sensei leave the room.

"This is not the apprentice I know."

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming Aware**


	13. Becoming Aware

**CCNote:** **Hey y'all. I'm hitting up Tokyo this weekend for the Edo Museum and the Afro-Caribbean Festival so if you wanna see some cool Snaps be sure to PM me for my info.**

 **Question asked by a Guest that I can't PM:**

 _ **How can Sasuke grab Hinata's wrist if he's blind:**_ **He's blind not an invalid. As Hinata told Kakashi last chapter, his spatial awareness (being able to discern how close or far something may be) is improving. He doesn't necessarily need his sight for that since he's relying heavily on sound, touch, and environmental familiarity. The best way to describe this is to think of Sasuke being a bat (without the need for screeching to find shit via echolocation lol) He's grown comfortable with Hinata being near him and she's always hovering within arm's reach of him to help him get around. He's used to her pointing out where different things are with his food so when she set the tray down she wasn't far away. As shown when Sakura came to do a check-up, she always serves Sasuke his tea first. I thought that this was implied that she stood within reaching distance but when I do my edits in the future perhaps I will make it more explicit?**

 **On another note, for this story in particular, I want readers to connect the dots and have that 'ooooh now I get it'/ 'that's what that was for' moment. Delayed gratification is the key phrase for this fic. What you may think is a plot hole is an important narrative device that may or may not have greater significance as we go along. This is a SLOW story and it is, in fact, A LOT slower than many of my others. It's going to be a long one too so there's that. If that's not your cup of tea that's fine. If you're disappointed as one reader pointed out that's also fine. Lots of people loved Sleeping with the Enemy but disliked A is for Uchiha (although that one is closest to my heart lol). Everything isn't for everyone as I primarily write what I want to read. I'm selfish like that lol. Don't worry though. I'll write other things in the future that you may enjoy more!**

 **Anywho, ignore all mistakes cuz I'm without a beta. Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Aware**

Hinata gingerly opened her eyes, squinting into the still dark room. The alarm clock on the bedside table rang incessantly until she finally hit the button to make it silent. The Hokage would be arriving soon to begin Sasuke's third day of training since his release from the hospital. Unfortunately, the man sleeping next to her did not seem to have heard the alarm at all. She couldn't be too mad at his lack of response though. She wasn't quite sure what he and Kakashi did since she used the time to resume her own training and run errands while Sasuke was away. She might not be on active mission duty but that didn't mean she could fall out of practice.

However, she regretted staying up as late and going as hard as she had. All of her muscles screamed at the injustice that she'd laid upon them and her eyes burned from overuse. As the alarm continued to shriek, Hinata let out a little groan of discomfort and she tried to sit up in the bed. Unfortunately, she was quickly brought back down by a pale arm that was too strong for its own good...

"Sasuke!" she squeaked as he pulled her back to lay flush against him. A hard poke against her backside only further served to send her into a panic. Her eyes widened as he ignored her protests and nuzzled his face into the back of her neck and shoulder. "The Hokage will be here soon!"

The response she received was little more than incoherent mumbling. When she was younger she'd been entirely sheltered from all parts of the male anatomy. As the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, it had been expected that she keep herself a virgin until her wedding night. It wasn't a difficult feat for her between her natural shyness and her unrequited affection for Naruto. Still, as she'd gotten older she'd seen a fair amount of the opposite sex due to the fact that she had male teammates. Working in the hospital had also exposed her to the male anatomy. Men were not entirely foreign to her now but this-

"Sasuke!" she gasped as he pressed against her again when she tried to move away.

She wasn't quite sure how to handle something like _this_. Taking a deep breath she tried to lay as still as she possibly could. Even the smallest of movements only seemed to make Sasuke's little problem worse and if she had to go on feel alone it wasn't very little. Behind her Sasuke grumbled, his warm lips brushing against her shoulder as he did so and breath blowing stray hairs off of her neck. The sensation caused goosebumps to spread from the point of contact all the way out to the rest of her body.

"Sa-Sasuke." She stammered but once again was met with silence.

What could she do in a situation like this? Sure she could always use her gentle fist but that seemed to be too drastic of a measure. It's not like he could control it anyway. As per the medical scrolls, she'd studied, erections were natural and normal bodily functions. Hinata squeaked as he pressed himself against her again before finally releasing her and rolling over onto his back.

As soon as his arm slipped away from her waist she let out a breath of relief and quickly sat up before he could catch her by surprise and drag her down again. Despite no longer having his 'problem' on her backside she continued to feel utterly mortified but she still had to wake him up. Taking a big gulp of air, she covered her eyes with one of her hands and tried to shake his upper arm with the other. He stirred a bit in his sleep, his begrudging response more coherent than before.

"Hinata." He grunted and the gruff sound of his voice made her face turn even redder.

"Um! Ka-Ka-Ka- the Hoka-" she stammered out, unable to string any syllables together to save her life.

With a tired groan, Sasuke roughly ran a hand over his face and sat up. Now that he was awake, she couldn't bear to sit next to him in the bed and didn't dare to see if his problem had gone down on its own. With both hands pressed firmly against her eyes, she quickly got out of the bed and scampered to the door.

"Dammit." Sasuke hissed under his breath just as she closed the door behind her.

Hinata pressed her back against the door, sinking down to the floor and bringing her knees up to her chest. Her heart felt as if it were racing a mile a minute and yet no matter how many deep breaths she took, she could not get it to stop.

'It's normal. It's normal. It's normal.' She thought via a constant mantra running through her addled mind.

Sasuke was getting stronger by the day. As he progressed, the dosages of his medicine had been reduced which would presumably allow his libido to return. He couldn't help _that._ Hinata gulped and buried her face further into her knees. This was a good thing right? If they were going to have children one day _that_ part of him needed to be fully functioning. Behind the door, a bit of rustling and a squeak of the bed caused Hinata to jump up from her spot on the floor and fly quickly to the kitchen. Whether Sasuke was just getting out of bed or getting rid of his 'problem', she did _not_ want to be around to hear it.

 **…..**

"The patient is stable for now." Tsunade said, brushing sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. "Transfer them out of surgery to ICU."

The nurses around her nodded dutifully and flew into action. There were fewer nurses than what they needed but somehow her staff always rose to the challenge. She frowned as she looked at the stained operating table and watched her staff take the patient away. The shinobi had been in severe condition when he'd been brought in by his battered squad in the middle of the night. Cracked ribs, internal bleeding, tissue disintegration. Tsunade knew that she was more than capable of handling it on her own but she would have preferred to have Sakura take the lead. _This_ was her apprentice's place. This was where she saw that light of determination shone the brightest. There was no other kunoichi that she would have rather passed her knowledge onto.

Tsunade frowned and began to remove her bloodied gloves, placing them into the biohazard bin as she left the operating room. She shouldn't still be doing this. She should be on the cusp of being ready to hand the title of lead medic over to Sakura. She should be mapping out her route to all of the best casinos within the five great nations. Instead, when her mind wasn't consumed with the day to day dealings of the hospital, she was constantly worried about the girl. Sakura was supposed to be stronger than this. She'd trained her to be stronger so she didn't fall into the same pitfalls she had. Alas, it appeared that it still hadn't been enough.

Shoving her hands into her blood splattered lab coat she made her way down the hall with a cloud hanging over her head. All the while she prayed that not a soul interfered with her trek from the operating floor to her office. She desperately needed a drink and another life or death emergency was the last thing on her mind.

"Hey Baa-chan!" a voice too cheery for the morning called from down the hall.

'Dammit.' Tsunade thought, her back stiffening at the sound of that godforsaken nickname. Speeding up her pace, she tried her best to get rid of the blonde jinchuriki on her tail but to no avail.

"Baa-chan wait up!" he shouted.

His loud footsteps were thunderous as he sprinted down the hall behind. Furiously, she spun around and glared at the youth. This was a hospital, _not_ a playground! She opened her mouth to tell Naruto as much but the worried look in his blue eyes kept her reprimanding him the way she wanted to.

"Ba-ba-" he said breathlessly, bending over at the waist to catch his breath. "Baa-chan, have you seen Sakura-chan?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the mention of her apprentice and she crossed her arms under her chest. The state Sakura had been in earlier that day had not been the best. Part of her hoped that the girl would be able to drag herself out of bed today but she highly doubted it.

"I've been visiting every day but I haven't seen her and she hasn't come to my- I mean she hasn't come to Ichiraku's."

"She's at her parents' house." Tsunade informed him, tucking away his brief slip of the tongue for later examination.

If she recalled there was a certain Hyuuga about to married off that held a strong affection for him. The love lives of children were far too complicated for her to keep up with, but he certainly didn't appear as outwardly depressed as Sakura. In fact, all he seemed to care about at the moment were Sakura's whereabouts. His face brightened a bit at knowing Sakura's location but quickly fell back to being worried.

"Is she okay? Have you talked to her?"

"If she was okay, she'd be here." Tsunade sniffed and proceeded to continue to walk towards her office. There was a bottle of sake in the bottom drawer with her name on it. "I'm submitting a two-week leave of absence for her to Kakashi. After that, she'll be reassigned to a squad according to the last rank she held."

Just as she reached her door, Naruto flung himself in front of it with his arms out wide to block her from going through. Tsunade frowned, displeased with his blockade. She did not need his shit right now.

"Get out of my way, brat."

"Baa-chan, you can't take her off the hospital roster. She's the best medic here after you."

"She _was_ the best medic here. If she wants to cry over the Uchiha she can be my guest but she won't do it with my patients' lives hanging around in the meantime. We are short staffed as it is. I will not have that liability."

"But-"

"Get out of my way Naruto."

She watched as the boy's brows knitted together but eventually he conceded and stepped allowed her access to her office. They both knew that she would not ask him again nicely. Shrugging out of her bloody lab coat, she simultaneously pushed past him and opened her office door.

"You of all people know that the responsibility for the village is far greater than any individual." She said.

He looked away from her, his blue eyes trained to the floor and his fists at his sides. She'd expected further protests on his part but maybe he was maturing after all. With a sigh, she closed her office door behind her and made her way to her desk.

"That was Naruto outside wasn't it?" Shizune asked, looking up from a scroll that she'd been reading.

"Yea." Tsunade yawned.

With a tired huff, she sank into her desk chair and closed her eyes. When was the last time she'd gotten a full night of sleep? One would have thought that stepping down from the Hokage position would have at least afforded her some semblance of rest.

"Lady Tsunade." Shizune said, a not so subtle hint of hesitation in her voice. Tsunade cracked open a tired eye and nodded her head for the woman to continue. "Are you really going to have Sakura moved from the hospital?"

Tsunade sighed as she looked away from her concerned assistant and turned around in her chair to face the window overlooking the street. She knew that Shizune cared deeply for Sakura. They both did. However, if there was anything she'd learned through her years on this earth, it was that love could be expressed in many forms.

'Sometimes.' She thought as she watched an orange blur jump from roof to roof away from the hospital grounds. 'Tough love is necessary.'

She and Sakura were alike in more ways than she cared to admit. The girl's obstinance was one of the many reasons she had chosen Sakura to be her successor but of course, that was a double-edged sword. At times like these, her apprentice didn't need a shoulder to cry on. She needed a swift kick in the ass. There was no one better to do that than Naruto. She had faith that troublesome boy would bring Sakura back to where she belonged.

 **….**

"A Daimiyo's Greatest Secret."

Hinata nibbled on her bottom lip, running her fingers over the gold embossed lettering on the cover of the book. She then flipped it open and quickly skimmed the contents. Palace intrigue. Political coups. That would not suit Sasuke's tastes. She shut the book quickly and returned it to its box. Sasuke would never tell her outright which tales he preferred and which he didn't but she could discern the difference by his actions. They were small, sometimes barely noticeable unless one was watching closely, but they were there. It was the way his fingers tapped impatiently for her to get to the good parts or the way he scoffed when he found a particular line to be preposterous. Preposterous things were always his favorite, mostly so that he could tear them to shreds. Stuffy books about a Daimiyo would not be something to elicit a favorable reaction.

With a sigh, she looked down at the small stack of books on the table beside her. She had a well-worn tale of a thief and another of a rogue shinobi. She'd mixed in one of a prince just to see how he'd react but her hopes weren't high with that one. Some might claim that she had enough books but those people did not know the last Uchiha. He was a voracious and rather demanding reader. Unfortunately, Konoha's makeshift library was not up to the task of fulfilling his literary needs. So many things had been destroyed during the war and the rebuilding process had not been kind towards more frivolous ventures.

Restoring the public library had not been high on the list of priorities. Most people hadn't even though about the building until the first big storm had come and caved the roof in, dousing most of the tomes with a healthy dose of water. They'd saved what they could but most of the books had been in poor condition to begin with. For now, the 'library' existed in an old office building that had escaped the ravages of the war. The books that they could save were piled in boxes, anxiously awaiting a return to their former lives on shelves. Hinata didn't mind the poor selection or less than ideal location though. After all, beggars couldn't be choosers and she kind of liked the idea of reading again. Even if it was at the behest of one rather grouchy Uchiha. Replacing yet another rejected book back into its box, she moved on to the next one. She reached for the book at the very top of the stack and cocked her head curiously to the side at the title.

'Carnality.' She thought to herself. 'That's a weird name for a book.'

Her initial curiosity peaked further, she opened to the middle of the book and was immediately greeted with a black and white drawing of two people tangled up in a rather intimate position. Mortified by her discovery, she let out a small scream and her entire face turning a bright shade of red. Several other patrons of the library looked up at her suspiciously and she bowed furiously, hoping all the while that was enough for them to ignore her. Eventually, they returned to perusing the boxes on their own but her own embarrassment remained.

Pressing a hand against her fluttering heart, she tried to erase the image out of her head but she just couldn't. What was something like _that_ doing in a public library? Perhaps some kids had tossed it in by accident…yes, that had to it. Closing her eyes, she removed the first book from the box and set it on the table far away from her. She then opened another book, this one without a title and for all intents and purposes looked benign, but contained even more Ludacris pictures than the last book. Quickly she muffled her scream with her free hand but the other kept the book she was holding open to the offending image.

It was a simple drawing of a man and woman, embracing intimately, the woman on top and the man underneath her. Their mouths…their mouths were nowhere near each other's faces. As impossible as it seemed, her face heated up even more and she closed the book before an inevitable fainting spell crept up on her. It wouldn't be good for her already shot reputation to be further blemished. Part of her wanted to return the book but another, baser part of herself, wanted to skim through it. She knew about the kunais and pouches. Kurenai had given her several informative lessons at the request of her father when her first moon cycle had made its appearance. In turn, when the same thing happened to Hanabi she'd had the talk with her sister as well.

She knew where to put things and the basic mechanics that were involved. T _hat-_ the image of the man and woman with their faces buries places the shouldn't be flashed through her mind and made her heart rate increase. _That_ was something that had never been apart of the discussion. She wasn't an expert in sex but she knew those kinds of actions were _not_ conducive to producing children. She knew that it was wrong to do so but she opened the book again, this time to a page just after the rather erotic drawing to find a description of their actions.

… _ **if the female is limber enough, her place for this position is best to be had on top. The party above must be mindful of their weight as to prevent smothering-**_

"Smothering?" Hinata squeaked and yet again the other occupants of the 'library' turned to give her dirty looks.

She didn't even notice the looks that they threw at her this time. Instead, she placed the untitled book between the ones about a prince and a thief and made her way to the check out counter. It was quite evident that she would not be able to read such a book here without either having a heart attack or being thrown out for her outbursts. Yet, something about the book drew her to continue reading it. Perhaps it was the forbidden nature of it all, a book which possessed the contents of a world that she'd never been privy to. She was the heiress to the Hyuuga, such things were unbecoming for someone of her status. Yet, when the leaves on the trees turned and fell down to the earth she would no longer be a Hyuuga. She would be an Uchiha and with that came a different set of responsibilities. Hinata blushed as she clutched the stack of books to her chest and pressed forward. Her heart pounded with each step as she brought her smuggled book forward, a nagging feeling of impropriety tugged at the back of her mind but she pushed it aside and placed the books on the counter.

Behind the checkout counter an older woman with wrinkled hands and thick spectacles grabbed her stack and began recording the title. Hinata kept her head down so her bangs covered her eyes and prayed that the woman didn't recognize her. She would sooner die than have her father find out that she was checking out such a book. The woman pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose and grabbed the first book off of the top. With bated breath, she watched as the woman slowly recorded all of the titles she'd brought to her and placed them back in a neat pile on the counter. She didn't even pause at the untitled book, she merely flipped open the cover and recorded the name of the author.

"Alright dear. Your time limit is two weeks." The elderly woman said. "If you need an extension just come back and let me know."

"T-thank you!" Hinata said, cursing her stammer for giving away her internal nerves. She grabbed the books off of the counter and placed them into the bag on her shoulder. All she had to do now was return to the Uchiha District and pretend she wasn't holding sin in her bag.

"Oh dear wait!" the woman laughed just as Hinata was about to turn away. "Silly me! I forgot to ask your name."

Hinata froze. This was bad. Of course, they needed her name. It was a reasonable request, after all, to know exactly _who_ was checking out books from the library. She turned to the woman who was squinting at her through thick glasses and gulped. She couldn't sully the Hyuuga name with such a book. If she let the Hyuuga name be recorded next to something so improper it was only a matter of time before one of her clan members caught wind of it. If they knew then her father would know. If her father knew she would never live to see another day.

"Dear, your name." the woman said sternly, squinting even harder to get a better look at her.

"Ah, um, Nata!" Hinata squeaked, blushing redder under pressure and cursing herself for not coming up with a better false name.

The old woman seemed to buy it though and carefully scribbled it down next to the list of books she'd checked out.

"Alright, Nata-san. Please enjoy your books!"

Hinata bowed quickly to the older woman and scurried out between the table stacked with boxes of rescued books with a heart that threatened to escape her chest. As she walked, the other occupants noticed her go. Some of them barely spared her a glance but others gave her a double take. Their eyes widened and their mouths became slack as she retreated from their line of vision.

"Is that?" a woman whispered behind her hand but Hinata heard her clearly.

"No, no it couldn't be!"

"It's just a rumor right?"

"I just can't believe it!"

Frowning, Hinata her way out of the library and blended into the busy Konoha streets. Their commentary was harmless now but it wouldn't be that way for long. Soon the village rumor mill would begin churning at full speed and their words of disbelief would morph into something more sinister. Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the most well-liked shinobi in the village even though he'd had a significant hand in saving it. Keeping her head held high, Hinata weaved through the crowd she clutched her bag close to her side and began the long trek back to the Uchiha District.

 **..** **…**

Sasuke panted heavily as he hid behind what he hoped was a tree. He rested the back of his head against the rough surface and tried to figure out his next course of action. Taking on Kakashi in his blind state was not as simple of a feat as he'd anticipated. He growled, tightening his fists at his side and furiously racking his brain for a solution to his former sensei. It shouldn't even be this hard. The man wasn't even using chakra against him!

"Now you know that this is not a good place to strategize." Kakashi's dull voice said, cutting through the darkness and the sound of his own heavy breathing. "I thought you'd know better by now."

The Uchiha accidentally bit his tongue as a sharp kick to his side sent him flying from his hiding spot and into the grass. A small groan escaped his lips as he rolled over onto his stomach and spat out blood. This was not good. His muscles had atrophied from months of being in a coma and his own chakra was too unstable to be of any use to him. His eyes being temporarily out of commission only added an additional layer to his already mounting frustration. Never before had he felt this weak. Not even as a genin had he been this incompetent. His eyes had put him a cut above most shinobi without even trying. Now that they were gone it was as if he were learning from scratch.

Kakashi wasn't the best teacher either. Their 'training' sessions had amounted to him becoming little more than a punching bag. He could feel the man in question watching him as he got back on his feet, poised and ready to strike again. He tensed as the crunch of grass beneath Kakashi's soles gave away his position, giving him the split second he needed to dodge the attack. It was unsettling to fight in complete darkness but it was better than sitting around the house all day. If he were going to be able to make his escape after the wedding he needed as much training as he could get before his sight returned. There was no doubt in his mind that they'd send a team to track him down and drag him back. He had to be prepared for that eventuality. There was another crunch of leaves and twigs which caused the Uchiha to become tense but the blow he was expecting never came. Instead, Kakashi continued walking calmly forward and smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"You're getting too tall Sasuke." Kakashi teased playfully but the Uchiha only frowned. He didn't have time for Kakashi's laxsidasical attitude. He always stopped training right when he was getting into a good stride! And they wondered why he went elsewhere to gain power…

"That's enough for today."

Sasuke sneered and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We have only just begun."

"Eager are we?" Kakashi laughed and stepped away. "We've been at this for three hours, you should feel tired by now."

He _did_ feel tired but that was only temporary. He had to push himself. Indulging in fatigue was a luxury that he could not afford. He lunged forward with his fist clenched, hoping to catch some part of Kakashi but missed. A strong grip caught his wrist instead and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Now Sasuke, you know better at his point than to go for a direct attack."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as Kakashi released him.

Of course, he knew better but that didn't make him any less frustrated with the situation. He needed to _get out_. The longer he stayed within the village's walls the weaker he felt. He just needed to comply with this whole wedding charade. Once he got his eyes back there was no turning back. Sure people would be angry with him but when were they not? Hinata would probably rejoice in his departure since that would allow her to pursue Naruto as she wished. Sasuke paused, a corner of his lip twitched involuntarily at the thought. Even if he was out of the picture, Naruto was sure to be too stupid to act.

"What are you thinking about so intently?" Kakashi asked, grabbing Sasuke's elbow and leading him forward from the forest to the last remaining house in the district.

"Nothing." Sasuke grumbled.

It truly was nothing. What Hinata decided to do after his departure had no bearing on him. She was lucky that he'd decided not to kill her on his way out. Now that wasn't a final decision but she was sparred from his wrath forat the moment. As long as she allowed him to slip out with enough time to get a head start she would fall to a lower position on his hit list.

"I bet you're thinking about our dear Hinata-san."

' _Our_?' Sasuke thought incredulously.

Sure he was thinking about her but in a more resigning not to kill her kind of way. Kakashi's implication was wildly off base with his own thoughts and only served to deepen his irritation with the man.

"Sasuke! Hokage-sama!" A soft voice shouted uncharacteristically in the distance.

"Ah, she's waiting for us." Kakashi sighed, tightening his grip on Sasuke's elbow. "You have such a loyal fiancé."

'Loyal my ass.' Sasuke scoffed to himself as Kakashi led him up the steps of the back deck.

Hinata was loyal alright. Loyal to her clan. Loyal to Naruto. Loyal to Sakura. Loyal to the village. The only place her loyalty did not lie was with him.

"He's back in one piece." Kakashi announced and his hand dropped from the Uchiha's elbow. "I'll be taking my leave."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Hinata said.

A small gust of wind was all that alerted him to Kakashi's departure before another small hand grabbed his. He tensed as her fingers slid between his own, the sensation familiar yet unusual at the same time. He froze as thoughts from the morning flooded his mind and heighten his sense of awareness at her proximity. He remembered how soft she felt pressed against him, how impossibly warm she was in combination with the humid air. A more inept part of him began to react from her touch and he yanked his treacherous hand away before it could progress further.

"Sasuke," she started, her soft voice full of trepidation and concern. "Are you okay?"

No…no he wasn't.

 ** _To be continued_ … Becoming an Obsession**


	14. Becoming Angry

**CCNote:** **Okay Okay don't shoot me! Sorry for a long time between updates lol. This was a pretty long wait for me, wasn't it? Becoming an Obsession would have been up sooner but my computer ate it. I got frustrated and didn't want to write everything over again but your kind reviews really motivated me to get my ass in gear. Also, the pause in writing gave me time to think about how to make the story better and this chapter was born. While I know this one was supposed to be Becoming an Obsession I just HAD to post this one first. I think it makes Obsession make more sense. You know I only want to give you quality reads! Also, there were lots of typos in the last chapter but don't worry, I'm going to do a massive edit overhaul during the summer for all of my stories. For now, please enjoy this update! Becoming an Obsession will be out in a few hours (probably…maybe) but don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Angry**

Naruto paused, his fist poised and ready to knock but not quite able to follow through with the action. He shouldn't be hesitating. The door wasn't threatening him. It was just one of many doors that he'd knocked on over the week and arguably the most important next to his plans to visit the Hyuuga compound later. Yet, as he stood in the tiny hallway, he didn't feel equipped to stand there. What was he supposed to say to her? He had no words of comfort to give her. No words of hope.

Sighing, he knocked on the door anyway. He had never been one for plans. He waited for a response to his knock but there was only silence on the other side of the door. He knocked again and this time earned a muffled 'go away'. Naruto shook his head and twisted the doorknob. He couldn't comply with her request. Sakura didn't know it but she couldn't afford for him to.

The blonde opened the door to his former teammate's room which was dark save for the few beams of sunlight struggling to peak through the curtains. He'd only taken one step into the room when his foot knocked two glass bottles into each other. Naruto shook his head and frowned. Where the hell did Sakura get all of this sake from? He then looked up from the empty bottles to the dark lump curled up in the middle of the bed. Not an inch of skin or lock of pink hair could even be seen.

"Sakura-chan." He said as he approached the lump on the bed. The lump shifted a bit, pulling the covers off of its face to reveal two red-rimmed and puffy eyes.

"Naruto?" she said, her voice cracking from obvious disuse. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He countered and Sakura brought the covers back over her face.

"I live here you idiot."

"You know what I mean. I'm here for something important."

"Hmph." She grunted and rolled over on the bed. Undeterred, Naruto continued.

"You've been missing for three days. Baa-chan is worried about you."

Even though she hadn't said the words aloud, Naruto knew that the former Hokage was worried about her student. Sakura, having now re turned to her previous cocooned state, did not reply to his statement which made Naruto frown at her continued show of stubbornness.

"Don't you care about the hospital at all? There are people that need you-"

"Ask Hinata for help. She's good at fixing things."

"Is that what this is all about? Are you jealous of Hinata?" Naruto asked incredulously. Sakura shifted herself on the bed to sit up with her blankets still wrapped tightly around her.

"I'm not jealous."

"Then why else are you crying in your bed all day and drinking yourself sick?"

"Naruto just get out. I don't need your shit right now."

The blonde crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.

"You shouldn't be jealous of Hinata. I don't think she or Sasuke has a say in this."

"Che." Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes. "She's getting married to your best friend and you still defend her?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the barb. He didn't like the fact that Hinata was marrying Sasuke. It was still hard for him to wrap his mind around the revelation but that didn't mean he had a right to be angry with her. Maybe Sasuke but not her. He could never be able to be truly angry with Hinata after everything she'd done for him. Until he was able to figure out what to do about the situation he was just relieved that Hinata would be remaining in the village and not shipped out to the other side of the world.

"My loyalty does not change just because I don't like something." Naruto said firmly. Sakura rolled her eyes and scooted off of her bed. She shuffled over to her desk and grabbed something small from its surface.

"Here." She said stiffly, pushing the small object into his chest. "This is the important thing you came for right?"

She then released the object and the frog keychain with his spare house key on it fell into his hands. The silly little frog smiled up at him innocently, unbeknownst to its own rejection.

"Sakura-"

"Now leave. I don't want to hear one of your lectures." She quipped and began to turn back to her bed.

"I thought you were over being a stupid fangirl for Sasuke." He said, the words escaping before he could weigh the ramification of them. Sakura's back stiffened in response. "You got so strong for what?"

"Shut up Naruto." She mumbled but he couldn't stop. The cold metal of his house key bit into the fleshy part of his clenched fist.

"What the hell was the point of getting stronger if you're just going to cry when things don't go your way?"

Sakura whirled around to face him. Her green eyes alight with anger and the blanket falling to the floor to reveal disheveled pajamas.

"I said shut up!" she yelled. Naruto just smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"You're supposed to be the smart one but you're acting really stupid-" he said but was cut off by a sharp punch to the jaw.

It wasn't a light punch either for it sent him crashing through the sliding glass door that opened to her room's balcony. He stumbled a bit from the impact, the shards of glass crunching underneath his feet. Light poured into the previously dark bedroom, highlighting the empty sake bottles and countless wads of discarded tissue. Sakura stepped out to the edge of the broken glass door, eyes wide with surprise by her own destruction. A hurried set of footsteps could be heard coming up the hall before a panicked fist began banging on the door.

"Is that all?" Naruto scoffed as he rubbed his jaw.

Sakura growled at him, hurling herself forward to land another punch. This time he was able to jump out of the way and down to the ground before she was able to connect. The kunoichi was not one to let him go easily and followed him down to the ground below, her fist creating a small crater when she missed him again. Naruto smirked as he braced himself to dodge another punch. When she missed him again, this time he took the opportunity to bring up his own knee and slam it into her stomach. Sakura gasped in a mixture of shock and pain at the low blow but her face quickly morphed back into one of anger.

'Perfect.' Naruto thought as he started to make his escape, focusing his chakra into his feet to scale an adjacent building.

Jumping from roof to roof, he was satisfied to hear Sakura's heavy footsteps behind him. He couldn't deal with a Sakura that had given up on herself. However, as the sound of air whoohsed past his right ear from a missed punch, an angry Sakura was something he knew all too well.

"You're losing your touch!" he shouted mockingly over his shoulder at the kunoichi hot on his heels. "Catch me if you can!"

"Naruto!" she growled.

The Uzumaki smirked as he threw himself off of the roof down to the bustling marketplace below. There were more than a few gasps of surprise at his sudden appearance but those were replaced by shrieks when a green-chakra ladened fist came hurtling towards his head. Naruto caught her wrist just before it could obliterate his face and flashed Sakura his best cheeky grin.

"Let me go you idiot!" Sakura hissed, winding back her other fist for a punch.

"You wouldn't hit me in front of all these people would you Sakura-chan?" he asked innocently.

Sakura blinked, her tightly clenched fist frozen in mid-air as she finally realized just where they were. A loose circle of villagers was beginning to form around them, each one with looks of shock and confusion on their faces. She lowered her fist, a bright red blush of embarrassment flushing over her cheeks. Seizing the opportunity to catch her unawares, he used his leg to sweep her feet out from under her. When he simultaneously let go of her wrist she fell down into the dusty street on her butt.

"Naruto!" she shouted but he was already hightailing it out of the marketplace.

Naruto smiled to himself as the wind whipped around him and the villagers below all pointed up at him as he passed. When he ran past the little makeshift academy, the children all screamed and waved frantically up at him. He waved back, making a mental note to visit the kids again soon. Picking up his pace he kept running towards the edge of the training grounds, trading rooftops for branches in his escape. He got as far as training area eight before a sharp punch to his shoulder sent him plummeting through the trees to the forest floor.

'Took her long enough.' Naruto smirked, landing on his feet quickly.

He didn't have much time to gather his bearings before another attack came from his pursuer. This one was hard enough to hurtle him into a tree, breaking it in half and tumbling across the forest floor. Sharp jolts of pain radiated through his body from the attack and he winced when he finally stopped skidding. Perhaps he'd gone a little _too far_? He tried to get up but a heavy weight straddled his waist and kept him pinned to the ground. Naruto gingerly opened his eyes and blinked up at the angry kunoichi perched above him with a glowing fist. He grinned up at her despite the fact that there was probably something in his body that was broken from her attack.

"You look cute when you're angry." He said and Sakura growled at him in frustration.

He didn't flinch when she brought her fist down on him and luckily he didn't have to. The glow from her attack receded and instead two trembling hands clenched the front of his shirt. Her shoulders crumpled and though her hair covered her eyes, he could tell she was crying by the wet drops that landed on him.

"You're such an idiot!" she blubbered, her fingers holding his shirt tightly.

"I know."

"I waited so long!"

"I know."

Reaching up, he gently stroked the top of her head, her tears coming out harder and faster than before. He knew better than anyone just how long Sakura had waited.

 **….**

"Eight palms."

There were many things that got under the Uchiha's skin.

"Sixteen palms."

He hated the sound of birds chirping in the morning. He hated how no matter how he tried to cool off, the oppressive summer heat wouldn't allow him to relax.

"Sixty-four palms."

Most of all, he hated the sound of Hyuuga Hinata training. He frowned as he listened to her complete her attack on some inanimate object. Her labored breathing and grunts as she continued the onslaught only further served to increase his irritation with the woman. He was supposed to be clearing his mind or whatever the hell Kakashi had asked him to do in order to meditate.

He was _supposed_ to be focusing on getting reacquainted with his chakra network which had been left unstable from the fact that a large chunk of it was inaccessible because he relied on his eyes so much. Clearing one's mind should be easy enough. All he had to do was think about nothing but that feat was damn near impossible when the Hyuuga was around. Sasuke furrowed his brow and tried to focus on anything _but_ the sound of Hinata trying to catch her breath. He just had to think of nothing. Think of nothing. Think of-

"Sasuke." Hinata said breathlessly.

The man in question nearly twitched in surprise. She sounded a lot closer than she had before. Her feet crunched shiftily in the gravel in front of him before she dropped down into a crouch. He kept his eyes closed though. Maybe if he ignored her she would go away.

"Sasuke." She said once more, the sound of his name tumbling from her lips caused an unfamiliar heat to pool just below the surface of his skin.

Why the hell had he allowed her to call him by his first name? Sure referring to him as 'Uchiha-san' was stiff and annoying but it had to be better than the way she said his name now. The memory of the way she said 'Uchiha-san' began to resurface and with it came the nervous, uncertain quality with which it was always uttered. The warmth that had been pooling within him grew stronger and he ran a hand through his hair to shake the thought away.

"Are you hungry?" Hinata said, placing a soft hand on his bare shoulder. "It's almost time for lunch."

Her touch sent an unwanted jolt straight to a more _inept_ part of his body and he recoiled immediately. He could feel her eyes stare at him curiously from his rejection but he paid her no mind. Instead, he turned his body away from her, thanking the fact that his loose sweatpants were enough to hide the semi-erection that had sprung up.

He listened to the small huff she let out before getting up to walk around him. She was probably irritated with his silent rejection but he could not care less. Hyuuga Hinata already had the privilege of seeing him in some of his most vulnerable states. He was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him like this. Nor would he acknowledge the fact that she was the culprit for the aroused state he kept falling into.

The feel of her hands on his skin was annoying. The sound of her voice was annoying. The way she fucking breathed was annoying. This reaction was not because he was attracted to her. He'd be damned before he fell for the whiles of a pathetic girl that the Hyuuga and council approved of. Sasuke let out a slow, frustrated breath through his nose as he heard the back door shut behind Hinata. He was _not_ attracted to her. Besides his sentiments from before on her looks still stood firm. No one willingly married off an attractive heiress to a blind man.

Sasuke smirked at the thought and began to regulate his breathing for meditation once more. For the first time since waking up from his coma, he was actually grateful that he _was_ blind. In any case, he had to double down and try to access the chakra available to him quickly before she came back to collect him. Afterall, he wouldn't have much time to do it later since they had a 'mission' from Kakashi. Sasuke's smirk rapidly melted away into a frown at the prospect.

'Stupid Kakashi.'

….

"Is that _him?_ "

"Oh my god it is!"

"Let's get out of here before he blows the place up."

Hinata bit her bottom lip, trying her best to focus on the task at hand but that was really hard to do. It didn't take using her Byakugan to know that all of the eyes in the store were trained on her and her companion. Staring was rude but when one was staring at the last Uchiha it was to be expected. Sasuke's comatose state had not been known to the villagers mostly for his own protection. Most of them, outside of the owners of the grocery store they frequented in the wee hours of the morning, didn't even know that he was still in the village let alone that he was blind.

Hinata hated being deceptive but it was for the best that the villagers didn't know the true extent of Sasuke's current condition. If they did know, anyone with an ax to grind would be after the man. As surly and inconsiderate he was, she was not about to allow a window of opportunity to open for him to be attacked. Trying her best to ignore the gossiping people around her and the Uchiha looming close behind her, she shifted through the rack of shirts.

Sasuke was putting on weight quickly. Now that his appetite had returned with a full force, albeit still impossibly picky, if she increased his protein intake he would be back up to how he'd been during the war. Surretioucly she turned her head and looked at Sasuke, gauging his current frame and what size shirt they needed to buy. The sunken in cheeks, heavy bags under his eyes, and overall gaunt appearance had faded away over the last two and a half months that they'd spent together. No longer being confined to a bed in the hospital basement had its perks.

Still, he was not the handsome boy that all of the girls in the academy fawned over. Now he towered over her, just as intimidating as ever with features that would make most women kill just to lay with him for a night. That is if they weren't kept away by the dangerous aura that seemed to roll off of the raven in noxious waves. Then again, that probably had its own appeal too.

"How much longer?" Sasuke asked, his deep voice tight and hinting at the increasing irritation that laid just below the surface of his outwardly nonchalant demeanor.

"Not too much. We just need a few more shirts." She replied, hoping that she sounded more reassuring than nervous.

Sasuke merely grunted in response. She couldn't blame him for being irritated. She'd much rather be behind the isolated walls of the Uchiha District than out here dealing with the judgemental stares of their fellow villagers. It was something that couldn't be helped though. If Sasuke were to stay in the village he couldn't continue being invisible. He had to be reintegrated into village society. That meant, as Kakashi had put it the day before, getting villagers used to seeing him. Sasuke had to 'show his face'.

" _He's so cute isn't he?" Kakashi teased. "Consider it an official mission to get people used to seeing that face."_

Kakashi had sounded so cavalier about the task but Hinata wasn't so sure. She held hope that with time those hateful stares would turn away from him and perhaps most people would feel ambivalent towards him. How much time that would take though was anyone's guess.

"How could they just let him walk around like this?"

"He's a danger to the village!"

'That won't be any time soon.' Hinata thought with a small sigh, holding up a dark green t-shirt against his torso.

It looked like it would fit him but for some reason, she hesitated from adding it to their accumulated stockpile. Inside of the basket he was carrying there was clothing of various styles and colors. All of them were tasteful in her opinion but didn't feel right. As she stood there clutching the dark green shirt, a thought struck her. She didn't even know what colors he liked. Sakura had already purchased a handful of items for him when he'd been initially released from the hospital. Most of the things he owned were either black or gray. The colors he wore weren't really important anyway since he was blind but that notion didn't sit well with her. Eventually, she would return his sight to him and when that happened what would he think? He'd probably hate her even more than he currently did when he realized that she'd dressed him in ways he did not approve of.

"That's the Hyuuga heiress right?"

Hinata tensed at the sound of her family name, hurriedly placing the shirt back on the rack.

"I heard that she's being forced to marry him."

"No!"

"Oh yes!"

"That poor girl."

Hinata frowned but kept her head down. She hated hearing the pity that others had for her and the disdain those same people had for Sasuke. They didn't know anything about him. Sasuke was an ass. There was no getting around that. However, they didn't know the man that mumbled for his mother in his sleep. They didn't see the broken man she'd held in the rain. She, however, was still whole. She was still strong. Regardless of what those people said, their pity at her situation was unneeded and most certainly unwarranted. Biting even harder on her lower lip, she tried to push past Sasuke but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You are upset." He said flatly.

Hinata didn't confirm or deny his statement, instead, her head began to lower. She could feel the eyes boring even bigger holes into the back of her head. The hushed whispers increased to a crescendo and the pity mounted heavily on her shoulders. She hated. She didn't want their pity. She didn't want their assumptions.

"Pathetic." Sasuke grunted in a low voice that only she could hear, his hand moving down from her shoulder to her wrist. "You care about what the insignificant have to say."

He then pulled her wrist back towards the clothing rack next to them. Awkwardly, she stumbled a bit but managed to maintain her balance when Sasuke dropped her wrist like it burned him.

"Finish."

Hinata swallowed thickly, unable to keep herself from blushing. People were staring at them even more than before if that was even possible. It might not have been the nicest way to put things, but Sasuke's words allowed her to strengthen her resolve and put her blinders up to the others. She did not agree that the villagers were insignificant. Every person had value. However, she really needed to practice blocking out the things they said. It was only going to continue to get worse from this point on until it finally, hopefully, got better. Squaring her shoulders, she focused on rifling through the clothing rack with a new set of eyes trained on her. A dark pair of eyes that made her feel isolated from the outside world.

"Sasuke." She started and he tensed at the sound of his name. "What is your favorite color?"

The Uchiha snorted and shoved his hands in his pockets, the faint traces of an amused smirk playing at the edges of his lips. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to catch the fleeting expression.

"You are strange." He mused and she quickly looked away from him.

It appeared that no matter what, Sasuke was determined to be a jerk. It didn't help that he'd been in a rather standoffish mood lately anyway. With a sigh, she pulled the green t-shirt off of the rack again and moved to place it into the basket Sasuke was carrying. Instead of allowing her to put it in, he pulled the basket behind him and sidestepped her. She eyed him curiously but his dark eyes gave her no hint to the thoughts that lay beneath.

"I like blue."

Hinata blinked at the admission, the shirt hanger limply dangling between her fingers. Sasuke might call her strange but he fit that definition far more accurately that she did! Shaking her head she moved back to the clothing rack, armed with the fact that he liked blue.

She could work with blue.

…..

Using her forearm, Hanabi wiped away the sweat that was continuously accumulating on her brow as she made her way through the front gates of the compound. She nodded to both of the guards who stood stoically at attention but neither one of them acknowledged her arrival. Being shunned was part of her punishment after all and she didn't expect the guards to break that protocol until they were told to.

The physical punishment placed on her by the elders and her father had been the easy part. That had only lasted a day. The radio silence that she'd encountered was a lot harder. Disrespect and insolence were qualities that were meant to be stamped out in her clan. They wouldn't have lasted as long as they had if everyone that had a problem with the system had defiantly voiced their opinion against the status quo. It wasn't fair but it had worked up to a point.

Hanabi couldn't even fault her father for his heavy hand in making her an example. She was no better or worse than any other clan member under his rule. If she had been in his position she would have carried out the same sentence on an insubordinate clan member. Being a daughter of the main branch did not put her above reproach. However, just because she understood the reason for her punishment didn't mean she agreed with it. It was annoying more than anything. If there was one thing she hated it was being ignored.

With a huff, she opened the front door to the main house and slunk inside. The main house was quiet, an occurrence that was more the norm than most people would feel comfortable with. Despite the silence, main and branch members moved about the house in numbers that she'd only seen when they had important guests or clan meetings that would be happening soon.

"What in the world is going on?" Hanabi mumbled to herself as she eyed a maid dusting an already dust-free picture frame.

There was no one important coming to pay them a visit so perhaps there was a meeting? If there was an important meeting surely she would have been informed right? She wasn't the heiress of the clan yet but they still had an obligation to tell her about meetings regardless of her punishment. All around her, pale-eyed clan members continued to mill about performing tasks that were largely unnecessary. It was almost like they were waiting for something. Waiting for what was the true mystery.

Hanabi ran her fingers through her damp, tangled hair and made her way down the hallway to the nearest door that would lead to the inner courtyard. Whatever was going on her father was likely to be at the center of it. There was nothing that went on in this house that he didn't know about, Byakugan or no. Keeping that thought in mind she slid open the nearest shoji door that led to the covered walkway and quickly approached her father's office. The door to his office was firmly shut which meant that he had to be inside.

Closing the distance between herself and the door, she raised her fist to knock but paused when she heard a voice that that didn't belong to her father inside. Hanabi looked to her left and right to make sure that the coast was clear before pressing her ear against the rice paper door. She knew that it was unbecoming of her to be eavesdropping but she was already being punished. What was one more week of being shunned going to do to her anyway? Holding her breath, she kept her ear pressed firmly against the door and listened.

"I'm just not sure that this is the best way to go about things."

'Naruto!' Hanabi thought as her eyes widened with the revelation.

His voice was slightly muffled by the door but there was no doubt that the owner of the voice was the one and only Uzumaki Naruto. Pressing a hand over her mouth to keep herself from betraying her own position, her heart skipped a beat. Naruto had _finally_ come for her sister! No wonder the rest of the clan was congregating conspicuously in the main house hallways and behaving so strangely. Did Hinata know about Naruto's visit? If she didn't how would she react when she found out that Naruto had fought for her hand? Hanabi grinned beneath her fingers at the prospect. It was almost certain that her sister would faint at the news.

"And what do you propose as the alternative?" the deep baritone of her father vibrated through the shoji door and broke Hanabi from her romantic reverie. "If the Uchiha does not have a credible attachment for loyalty to the village and the power to back up that loyalty, his execution will be approved by morning."

"I understand your position but think of it from Hinata and Sasuke's perspective. They barely know each other."

"Arranged marriages do not require participants to know each other beforehand."

"Yes but still-"

"In any case, they should know each other well enough by now. They have been living together for the last two months and Hinata has not uttered a word of complaint. They are not complete strangers."

Hanabi felt her heart sink at her father's words. _Of course,_ Hinata would not complain. It was not in her nature to do so. Naruto might not know that though.

"Hinata does not complain." Naruto said flatly and Hanabi mentally punched her fist in the air.

He _did_ get it. There was a little bit of shuffling inside of the room, the tense silence could even be felt through the shoji door. Hanabi gulped and pressed her ear closer.

"Then, as I said before, what do you propose?"

Hanabi held her breath, hoping with every fiber of her being that Naruto had a plan. He was the savior of the Leaf village. He _always_ had a plan. Yet, as the silence in the office dragged on, her burgeoning hope began to diminish.

"Will you be able to stay the Uchiha's execution and ensure the continuation of the bloodline of one of the most powerful clans Konoha has ever known?"

"If the council is willing to listen to reason them maybe. It's because of Sasuke that we were able to win the war. I couldn't have done it without him." Naruto said, causing Hanabi's heart to jump into the back of her throat.

"I… I understand that the Hyuuga probably have a lot to gain from this wedding and I don't have much right now that I could promise you. I wish that I had more to offer you but don't you think that Hinata's happiness is more important in all of this. Forcing her into a marriage just isn't right."

"Will you marry Hinata instead then? Will you give the Hyuuga the unwavering allegiance and protection of the future Hokage? Will the Hyuuga gain political leverage and assistance in rebuilding through you?"

'Please.' Hanabi thought as she pressed her hand firmly over her mouth the keep from interjecting. 'Please say yes.'

Unfortunately, she was only met with silence and it was deafening.

"It is unfair to ask such a thing from you but we require more than just pleasantries and promises." Her father said. "I have no doubt in my mind that you will become the Hokage within the next decade. However, we do not have the option of waiting until then. When the time comes you will have our vote of approval but we can give you nothing more."

Hanabi backed away from the door, her hand lowering from her mouth to hang limply at her side. There really was no way out. She took another step back only to bump into something stiff and warm. Whipping around quickly, she was met with the stern face of Ko. The disapproval of her actions was written all over his body, from narrowed eyes to crossed arms. Hanabi lowered her head, not because she was sad for being caught but the weight of realization for her sister's future. If Naruto couldn't convince her father, no one could.

 _ **To be Continued…**_ **Becoming an Obsession**


	15. Becoming an Obsession

**CCNote:** **OMG! Have we really reached over 700 reviews already?! Y'all are definitely the BEST. I may not always be able to respond but know that your continued readership (yes even you, Most Honorable Canon Troll) and support are what keep this story going. Special shouts out to** _ **Aggretsuko14**_ **. I love your username. Without further ado, welcome to a long-awaited Becoming an Obsession! Enjoy!**

 **Becoming an Obsession**

The Uchiha District was silent save for the occasional gust of wind that rattled the loose shutters of the only remaining house. Sasuke felt his brows knit together in concentration as he attempted to harness one of the few times he was actually 'alone' but to no avail. The silence did not afford him the peace that he thought it would and left him feeling more mentally frustrated than before. Letting out a short breath of reluctant defeat, Sasuke opened his eyes and stretched his muscles which were weary from sitting still too long.

As he did so, his stomach began to growl and the harsh heat of the sun reminded him that it was probably time for lunch. Grunting to his feet he stood up on the back deck and felt around until he could feel the door that would let him inside. Unfortunately, the promise of lunch did not waft to his nose as it usually would. Instead, he was only met with voices that were all too familiar.

"Hold still, this will sting a little." Hinata said and whatever she was doing earned a sharp intake of breath from her companion. "Sakura didn't hold back did she?"

"Haha! I can take it!" Naruto laughed and Sasuke rolled his eyes at the mental image of his dopey grin.

' _Naruto.'_ Sasuke sniffed, his fingers curling tightly around the back doorknob. What the hell was he doing here? Had he finally decided to get his head out of his ass?

"Sakura…is she…okay?" Hinata asked and Naruto's awkward laughter died down.

"She will be. She doesn't have much of a say in that matter if I have my way."

"Ah…I'm glad."

There was a bit of shuffling, the clinking of glass jars but Sasuke could imagine the sad smile the Hyuuga would plaster on her face. Ridiculous, self-sacrificing people like her tended to do those kinds of things. Naruto probably didn't even realize that the smile was fake. The Uchiha grunted in discomfort at the thought of the nonverbal exchange going on in the other room. At the moment he couldn't decide which one of them was the bigger idiot.

"Hinata…are you okay?" the normally bright voice asked, his tone filled with concern that was too mature for his demeanor.

"I'm fine Naruto. Really I am." Hinata replied although Sasuke wasn't quite sure if she was trying to convince Naruto of that fact or herself.

"That night in the graveyard… when you kissed me and I-"

"Please…let's not talk about that."

"Hinata-"

"It was a mistake…I shouldn't have been selfish and taken liberties like that. Just forget that it happened."

Sasuke pressed his lips together as silence fell over the two. He'd been wrong. There wasn't a deeper relationship between the two of them. There was _something_ there but it was not what either of them wanted. He knew for a fact that Hinata would have preferred a relationship with the blonde over him but what did Naruto want? An unfamiliar tug in the center of his chest grew as the fact of being second to _Naruto_ settled in.

He shouldn't feel this way. He'd grown up with girls always fawning over him to the point that he found it to be annoying. The way they giggled at anything he did, carefully observing him like he was an animal in the zoo made his skin crawl. This woman, _this Hyuuga_ , was not apart of that faction. She was nothing special so why did this bother him? Their impending marriage was a sham of convenience so it shouldn't bother him that Hinata didn't like him. He wouldn't admit it, not even to himself, but it did.

His frown deepening, he slid open the back door fully and marched into the living room where Naruto and Hinata had been sitting. Hinata let out a small gasp at his appearance, whatever she had been holding clattered to the table as she stood up.

"Sasuke." she started but he ignored her and began walking away in the general direction to where he knew there was a hall that led to the bedroom.

"Hey, bastard long time no see!" Naruto joked.

Sasuke growled at the blonde's poorly phrased joke and continued to shuffle away. His hunger was long forgotten until he finally made it to his bedroom. He could hear Hinata shuffling after him but he continued to ignore her. If he kept ignoring her she'd probably go away. It had worked before.

"Sasuke." She said, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his forearm before he entered the room. "How much did you hear?"

"Nothing." He grunted.

It was a lie of course. They both knew he was lying but he didn't care to carry on a conversation with her. Not when her touch was making him distracted. Right then his stomach took the tense silence as an opportunity to growl and an inexplicable heat rose to his face.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Did she actually have the nerve to laugh at him? The corner of his lips twitched downward and he brushed her hand off of his arm. The loss of contact irritated him but being the source of the Hyuuga's entertainment was worse.

"Go back to your private chat with Naruto." He grumbled, his noisy stomach muting the edge of his tone as he walked into the room.

Hinata was silent as he left her behind but he could still feel her gaze on his back. Using the wall to slunk over to the bed, he laid down and prayed that the annoying woman would go away. She did eventually leave him alone though, her light footsteps retreating down the hall. Although she was now gone, her scent remained in his nostrils. The ghost of her touch still ever-present on his forearm.

"Dammit." He cursed under his breath.

This Hyuuga woman had to be poisoning his food or something. There was no reason that his thoughts should be consumed by her presence. There was no reason he should feel any sort of jealousy of Naruto for her affections. She was too soft to be a good kunoichi. Too soft and much too trusting. Kakashi had once called the Hyuuga pretty when he'd been in the hospital but Sasuke took that as little more than teasing him. Sure that rude little sister of hers- whose name was escaping him at the moment- had decried quite adamantly that Hinata was too good for him but that was her own biased opinion. No one would be good enough for his brother either if the situations were reversed.

In short, nothing about her would lend itself to him logically being attracted to her in any sense. Perhaps she _was_ poisoning him. There could be no other reason behind his preoccupation with her. Frowning, he squeezed his eyes shut and his traitorous stomach growled again.

 **…..**

The Uchiha District was quiet. It wasn't like the silence she'd grown accustomed to in the Hyuuga Compound. That was a kind of silence that did not lend itself to comfort. There was always someone around the corner, all-seeing eyes knowing everything at any given time. Privacy did not exist within the walls of the compound. Here in the Uchiha District, outside of the watchful eyes of the Anbu operatives, Hinata had discovered the joy of being private.

She could move about as she wished, training was no longer observed by her elders and meal times were on her own schedule. It was in the little things like being able to be less careful, less mindful of herself, that she began to feel freer. There were certain things she could do here that she would have never dared to do within the walls of the compound. However, as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the Uchiha meditating on the back deck, she hadn't been able to enjoy any sense of privacy since Naruto had left the day before…

" _He seems to be doing just fine doesn't he?" Naruto snickered at the end of the hallway._

" _He gets a little…moody from time to time." Hinata conceded with a disparate sigh as she stared at the firmly shut bedroom door._

 _It was probably euphemistic to describe Sasuke as merely being 'moody'. Naruto just laughed harder, his bright smile very much welcome in a home that was often bereft of such things. She'd missed that smile while he'd been away but it didn't elicit the same pitter patter of her heart that it once did. They say that distance made the heart grow fonder but at the moment that sentiment rang a bit hollow._

 _She'd been so happy to see him again when he'd first arrived with Sakura. Those same butterflies had reignited in her stomach as soon as she'd seen him and suddenly she was awash in nervousness. She could barely keep her hands from shaking until Sasuke had grabbed her wrist and her heart stopped beating. The look on Sakura's face at the announcement of their engagement filled her with guilt. She didn't deserve to find out like that._

 _Sasuke was too blunt, too harsh. Didn't he realize how much Sakura had loved him? The least he could have done was give her some modicum of respect. She only had herself to blame though. She should have told Sakura on her own terms weeks ago. If she had maybe it would have softened the blow…maybe. Sakura's reaction, while it did make her feel guilty, was not the worst part of her and Naruto's visit._

 _No. The worst part had been the way Naruto's eyes had immediately shifted from her own back to Sakura. His first reaction, whether he meant to or not, was to make sure that_ _ **she**_ _was okay. The details of her and Sasuke's engagement came second. Naruto looked out for her on instinct. His hands reached out to her, his feet chased after her, all on instinct. When he left he took with him all of her the butterflies that had bloomed from her childhood fantasies._

 _Naruto couldn't talk to her the way he had with Sakura. She'd heard their banter while she'd been in the kitchen and had watched their interactions over the years. Naruto never spoke so freely with her. He would never get so angry that he would yell without restraint or laugh so hard that his stomach hurt. As that realization set in, sadness began to intertwine with her guilt. It was a strange, bitter feeling. A longing for a loss of something that she'd never had in the first place. A longing for something that probably wouldn't be functional in the long run anyway._

" _Hinata." Naruto called out and the Hyuuga blinked in surprise._

 _She'd been so consumed with her own thoughts that she hadn't realized that she was still standing dumbly in front of her bedroom door. She blushed a bit out of natural embarrassment for her own absentmindedness before heading down the hall where Naruto was. Together they went back to the living room where some of her homemade ointments were scattered on the table. She sank down to the floor to begin screwing the tops on and putting them back into the basket she usually kept them in. Naruto hadn't been hurt very badly, it was only a few cuts and bruises which the Kyuubi could have easily handled, but she couldn't allow anyone to show up on her doorstep and she not try to help them._

" _Hinata." Naruto said again, sliding his bag off of his back and digging into the bottom of it. "I've been meaning to give this to you for awhile."_

 _Hinata looked up from assembling her supplies to see Naruto pull out a rather battered maroon box. He then sat down on the floor across from her and set the box in the middle of the table. It wasn't her birthday. Why was he bringing her a gift?_

" _This is kind of awkward I know. I'm just not good at these kinds of things. Temari says that girls like these kinds of things and Gaara bought two of them. Two! So I guess they have to be really good." Naruto prattled on nervously. "Haha! The box is a little beat up but the stuff inside should still be okay to eat."_

" _Why?" Hinata asked, genuinely perplexed by his sudden gift. Naruto just smiled and shrugged._

" _Because now it's too late."….._

….Hinata sighed at the memory as she watered the tiny garden that Sasuke had started. Naruto's words, as confusing as they were, rang true. Whatever feelings he'd meant to convey, whatever possibilities the could have had together, it was all much _much_ too late. Naruto's last visit had brought about some closure on her own feelings though. She was able to tuck them neatly away in a special corner of her heart where they would always reside.

One couldn't help who they loved.

Naruto couldn't help the fact that he loved Sakura, even if he didn't know it yet. She couldn't help the fact that she loved him either. That was okay though. She'd probably never stop loving him but she knew that her heart was big enough for more than one love in her life. She smiled to herself as the last of the water poured out of the watering can, feeling satisfied with her resolution. However, while Naruto's visit had given her closure it had made Sasuke antsier.

The house they resided in wasn't that big. Two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, a modestly sized living room and kitchen. Even though it wasn't the same luxury she had in the Hyuuga compound, it was more than enough space for the two of them to not feel suffocated by each other. Sasuke had no problem giving her space and vice versa. Yet, for the last twenty-four hours, he'd yet to leave her alone to herself in a room.

She didn't have real _proof_ that he was following her but it felt like he was. It was like he was some kind of angry puppy, put out and unable to say why. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe him always being close was just a coincidence. The house wasn't that big after all. Placing her watering can on the ground next to their sprouting garden, Hinata made her way up to the back deck.

Sasuke didn't move when she passed him. Not a twitch or a grunt to acknowledge that she was near. Brushing past him she opened the back door and went into the living room. From there she made a beeline to the low lying coffee table where several library books sat and got comfortable on the floor. She'd barely opened the first book before Sasuke opened the back door.

Hinata peered over the edge of her book at him, loudly turning one of the pages without really reading it. His dark eyes immediately shifted to the sound of the page and he turned towards the living room, plopping himself nonchalantly onto the couch. He _was_ following her. If he was trying to be discreet he wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"Sasuke." She started, doing her best to keep the inner annoyance out of her tone. "Do you need something?"

"Hn."

Her right eye twitched at his unhelpful statement. He wanted something, that much was evident. What that something was; she had no idea. She could see through walls but she couldn't read minds. That kind of thing was best left up to the Yamanaka clan anyway. Sighing, she closed her book and moved to go elsewhere. This man was insufferable.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

The Hyuuga and Uchiha's head turned simultaneously in the direction of the sound. Hinata frowned and activated her Byakugan. They weren't supposed to be expecting any visitors today and anyone that was in their inner circle never had the courtesy to knock in the first place. However, once she confirmed just who it was, Hinata gasped and scurried toward the door. Flinging it open she smiled up at her old sensei carrying a two-year-old on her hip.

"Kurenai-sensei!" she greeted enthusiastically.

The red-eyed woman smiled back at her with that same motherly expression that hadn't changed since her childhood. A jolt of elation surged from the tips of her toes straight to her heart. It had been too long since she'd last seen her sensei and her daughter Mirai! Much much much too long!

"Do I get a hug or are you just going to keep staring at me?" Kurenai laughed and Hinata immediately closed the distance to wrap her arms around the older woman's waist.

Mirai squirmed between the two women, her little hands pushing on them desperately for her own space. Hinata giggled at the two-year-old and let her sensei go. Now that they were separated, if only by arm's length, she was able to get a better look at the toddler. Short dark hair, chubby cheeks, and ruby red eyes that perfectly matched her mother's. Mirai was absolutely adorable. It was astounding how much the girl had grown in such a short amount of time. It felt like just yesterday her sensei had been complaining about pregnancy pains.

"It's really good to see you again Hinata-chan." Kurenai said, ruffling the younger woman's hair with her free hand. Embarrassed by her sensei's teasing, she blushed bright red and took a half step back into the house.

"Please come in- oomph!" Hinata started as she made a turn back into the house only to run into a hard chest with her face. Tentatively she looked up to see Sasuke standing too close with his arms crossed over his chest and a bored look in his eye.

"Oh!" she squeaked, shuffling over to his side and waving a hand between him and Kurenai. "Sasuke, this is my old sensei Kurenai and her daughter."

"Nice to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke." Kurenai greeted with a short nod of her head and an outstretched hand that was meant to be shaken.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, turning around to head back to the living room.

Hinata smiled awkwardly as Kurenai's fingers curled around empty air, clearly taken aback by Sasuke's unnecessarily cold rejection.

"So that's the infamous Uchiha." Kurenai grumbled under her breath before she narrowed her eyes at Hinata. "Do you know how alarming it is to be woken up in the middle of nap time by an Inuzuka who has rumors of a _certain Hyuuga_ getting married? Then have to wait a few more weeks until news finally trickles through the village that said Hyuuga is marrying an Uchiha?"

Hinata shrank a bit under Kurenai's scrutiny. It wasn't like she couldn't leave the Uchiha District whenever she wanted to. Caring for Sasuke did not consume her every waking moment. She _should_ have told her old sensei about the engagement. The woman was the closest thing she had to a mother.

"Don't look like that Hinata-chan!" Kurenai said brightly, shifting the toddler on her hip. "What's done is done and now we have a lot of catching up to do."

Hinata ran a hand through her hair and smiled, her mood lifting exponentially now that she knew Kurenai wasn't _really_ upset with her. Stepping aside so that Kurenai and Mirai could enter the house fully, she led them to the kitchen. They were just in time for lunch!

 **….**

"Akamaru's first litter is due any day now otherwise he would have broken down your door by now."

"That's wonderful!"

Sasuke grumbled incoherently under his breath as he listened to Hinata and that old sensei of hers prattle on and on endlessly. Well that Kurenai woman did most of the talking while Hinata interjected from time to time, content just to hear the woman speak. There was a certain respect in the way she spoke very little and hung on to every word Kurenai had to say. When she did say anything, the admiration and excitement in her voice, as subtle as it was, felt palpable. She seemed…happy.

Lazily draping an arm over his eyes he continued to listen to Kurenai talk a mile a minute, absently wondering when Hinata might speak up. Not that he cared about what she had to say. They really weren't talking about anything of importance, at least nothing that was important to him. However, the rare sound of true happiness in Hinata's voice had a strange quality to it. This was a side she'd never shown to him. Amusement. Anger. Embarrassment. Frustration. These were all facets her personality that he'd been exposed to one way or another. Happiness, on the other hand, appeared to be something she would never experience in his presence.

Not that he cared…but it was interesting to listen.

"Hallow!" a squeaky little voice shouted directly into his ear. "Sweepin?"

The unfamiliar noise surprised him enough to jolt him upright in alarm. Turned his head from left to right, glaring into the darkness to decipher just where the threat was coming from. A little hand touched his knee on the edge of the couch and it took everything in him not to kick the grubby owner clear across the room. There was a little grunt as the owner of the hand tried to climb up onto the couch, each attempt less successful than the last.

'This must be that Kurenai woman's daughter.' Sasuke thought as he felt the girl struggle and grunt near his knees.

"Halp." She squeaked, pulling on the edge of his shorts. "Halp me."

Sasuke's left eye twitched at her request. Help her do what? Get on the couch? She shouldn't even be anywhere near him in the first place. He opened his mouth to alert Hinata and the negligent mother that the little girl had escaped but the sound of Hinata's laughter wafted from the kitchen. It was a true, genuine laugh. He'd heard her laugh before, usually at his own expense. At those times he'd been too irritated to enjoy it but now it filled his ears. Her laugh was actually bearable. It wasn't screechy or overly obnoxious. If anything it was the most tolerable thing about her.

"Halp pweeze!" the little girl huffed.

Sasuke grunted and leaned forward to offer the girl a hand. Just how small was she that she needed help getting on the couch? As soon as his hands hooked underneath her armpits he got his answer. She was impossibly small, so small that it felt like she might break if he were to drop her. Not wanting to be liable for damages, he sat the girl on the couch next to him. She didn't stay there for long, instead choosing to climb into his lap and tug on the front of his shirt.

"I Mewai." She said, her announcement entirely unwarranted.

Frowning, he picked her up again and placed back to the spot next to him. He didn't care who the hell she was. Undeterred, the one now known as 'Mewai' huffed and climbed back into his lap.

"I dis many!"

Small fingers were shoved into his face nearly poking out one of his eyes. This kid was going to permanently blind him! He picked her up once more, a little rougher than before, and set her next to him.

"Stay." He said but the girl only climbed back into his lap.

"Pweety!"

Small hands pulled at his hair, tugging his head forward and twisting the locks this way and that. He tried to pull the girl off of him but to no avail. Her grip on his hair threatened to tear it out at the root. This damn kid! A light laughter, closer than he anticipated, filled the living room and he paused in his struggle to get the kid's hands out of his hair.

"Sasuke are you alright?" Hinata asked, the tugging pain of the kid's fingers in his hair disappearing as she removed 'Mewai' from his lap.

Sasuke didn't respond. Of course, he wasn't okay. He had been attacked by a grubby little creature! A tiny, absolutely minuscule and inconsequential feeling of embarrassment moved to the front of his mind at being caught in such a situation. The infamous Uchiha Sasuke, made miserable by some damn stranger's kid.

"Noooo!" 'Mewai' shrieked, a slight gust of air lifting up his bangs from her little hands waving near his face. "Noooooo!"

"I-I think she likes you!" Hinata said as 'Mewai' began to cry.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the prospect. Kids didn't _like_ him. The cowered in fear near their windows when he came into a foreign town, those brave enough peeked through the blinds to catch a glimpse. His actual exposure to children was so small that it could almost be considered laughable. This kid, this creature that pulled his hair and tried to blind him, had something wrong with her. As her cries got louder, Sasuke grew increasing more assured that the kid was defective.

"Shhhh. Don't cry." Hinata cooed. "Mommy just went to the bathroom and will be out soon."

'Mewai' continued to her cry, the noise akin to nails grating on the chalkboard. Despite Hinata's best efforts to sooth the girl, she continued to protest her removal. Sasuke frowned and opened his arms, desperate for the crying to stop.

"Sasuke?" Hinata asked at his silent gesture but he didn't respond.

He merely kept his arms opened and waited for Hinata to get the message. It took a moment, much longer than his ears should have been able to tolerate, but eventually, she returned the child to his lap. Almost immediately, the tiny girl calmed down. Wet cheeks and a suspiciously runny nose buried itself in his shirt to hide away from the person who had taken her away in the first place. He sat, stiff as a board, unsure of what he was supposed to do next.

"Well, I'll be damned." Kurenai said as she made her way around the couch to the three of them. "You might just give Shikamaru a run for his money."

Sasuke's eye twitched at the negligent mother's assessment as she _finally_ decided to grace them with her presence. Her kid was definitely defective.

 **….**

Sasuke groaned tiredly as he rolled over in the bed. He was so goddamn tired. He'd been stuck as little more than a child's plaything until that horrible Kurenai woman finally left. Hinata had been reluctant for the woman and her daughter to leave but in Sasuke's opinion, they hadn't left fast enough. The tradeoff of them being there wasn't all bad though. It left Hinata in a markedly better mood. She'd hummed the entire time she made dinner and filled his separate bowls up to the point where food had threatened to spill over. The meal had even tasted better than usual too. If Hinata being happy meant better food, perhaps he would be okay with that Kurenai woman coming around more often.

Another perk to the defective kid being around was that he was so tired, once his head hit his pillow, sleep quickly followed. That ease of slipping into unconsciousness, couple with Hinata's presence keeping his nightmares away lifted his own mood. However, the feeling of something being _off_ sent a jolt to his brain and shook away to sleepy cobb webs from his mind. His brows scrunching together, he reached out a hand over to where Hinata usually lay but found the sheets to be cold.

That was odd.

There were no annoying birds chirping outside of the window so that meant that morning had not yet arrived. Hinata wasn't one to usually get up before dawn either. Sasuke huffed at the mystery and rolled over so that his back was to Hinata's usual spot. It didn't matter where that damn woman had gone off to.

Her absence meant that he now had the entire bed to himself and wouldn't be suffocated by her scent. It was a good thing that her body had not sneaked its way across the bed in the middle of the night to leech off his warmth even though the room was already too hot. Yet, the thought of Hinata being absent did not fill him with relief. Instead, there was a warming in the pit of his stomach that disagreed with his mental sentiments and wished for her return. It desired to be buried in a place that was hidden between soft hips and lips that breathlessly whispered his name.

"Dammit." He growled as his erection grew more prominent.

It was too early for this shit! Why the hell did it keep happening? He'd never had this reaction when he had been in close quarters with Sakura or Karin. Perhaps it was the fact that he'd been so focused on gaining power that his brain just didn't have the capacity to wander off in more instinctual ways. Or perhaps it was because they weren't as soft. Their bodies had never been pressed against his in ways that made his own betray him.

Sasuke ran a frustrated hand through his hair and gingerly sat up to get off of the bed. He had to get rid of his erection before Hinata returned from wherever the hell she'd disappeared to. With that thought in mind, he reached out for the wall next to the bed and pressed his hand flatly against it. He then followed the perimeter until he reached the bedroom door and twisted it open. The only bathroom the house had was the first door on the right so he took a few steps forward until he reached the wall opposite his bedroom and followed the wall once more. It didn't take long for him to reach the bathroom but upon opening the door the sound of the shower running reached his ears.

'Shit.' He cursed mentally, slowly moving to close the door and hoping the Hyuuga hadn't heard his intrusion. Before he could close the door all the way a strange sound against the backdrop of the shower caught his attention.

"Mmmm."

It was small sound, almost like it was being smothered, but it was enough to keep him rooted to the bathroom door. He stood transfixed as he listened to the sound of water beating against the shower wall with an undercurrent of breathy moans. What the hell was this woman doing? He'd never heard her sound so…vulnerable.

'Is she…' he thought as her moans picked up in desperation, no longer able to be muffled.

Moans which made his erection even stiffer and strain against the confines of his pajama bottoms. It took everything in him not to give into his baser instincts and yank open the bathroom door to make her moan louder. Through the intoxicating haze of his own mounting lust, a little voice reminded him that those soft hands of hers could gentle fist him into submission if he were to intrude more than he already was.

"Ah!" Hinata cried out suddenly, panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

What could have only been her reaching an orgasm caught him so off guard that he took a step back from the bathroom door. His erection strained almost painfully in protest against not also being allowed to find it's own release. He took a deep breath, hoping that it would go down but to no avail. Hinata's heady moans still ringing in his ear. What was she thinking about that made her moan that way? Was this something she did often when she thought that he was sleeping? Somehow that thought did not leave him feeling disgusted with her behavior. If anything, he was even more aroused than before-

"Sa-Sasuke?"

' _Fuck'_

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming a Desire.**


	16. Becoming a Desire

**CCNote:** **Alright ya'll here is a new chapter** **! This one is again more SasuHina centric, but Naruto and Sakura will return, don't worry lol. Anywho, thanks for the feedback up to this point, it means a lot. I hope that the CCNote was able to shed some light on why I've written the characters the way that I have. Love it or hate it, everyone's** **opinion matters to me! The overall plot/direction/characterization of this story is set in stone. None of that will change. However, I will try to add more weight.** **Also, someone** **mentioned that Mirai would be one, not two. For the purposes of this story, she is going to be two. I hope that's okay.**

 **Anywho, please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Desire**

"Sa-Sasuke?" Hinata gasped as she clutched her towel tightly to her chest.

The Uchiha stood, a rare look of shock on his face as she said his name. What was he doing up? He should definitely be sleeping right now! Had he...had he heard her? Slowly her eyes drifted downward and the confirmation of what he'd heard stood at attention. She couldn't help it. There was no guidebook to how to deal with situations like this. No one had informed her of how to conduct herself when she was wearing only a towel and a man stood before her with an erection.

So she screamed.

The sound had forced its way up through her throat in time with the pounding of her heart. It was foreign even to her own ears but she had no room to think about the ramifications of her actions. Sasuke stared at her wide-eyed as she pushed past him to scurry down the hall to the bedroom. Once there, she yanked open the door and slammed it loudly behind her. She was only able to breathe again when she locked the door for good measure and sank down to the floor. Never in her life had she been this embarrassed!

 _..."The tendrils of fire reached up to the sky, embers dying quick deaths…"_

 _Little snores caught her attention from the book she'd been reading, pale eyes sliding to the left to find the culprit. Hinata felt her lips quirk upward involuntarily into a small smile as she watched the Uchiha sleep soundly beside her. His mouth slightly agape, errant locks of raven hair clinging to his forehead and cheeks. She wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping but judging by the fact that he was snoring, it must have been for awhile. The book she'd been reading hadn't been all that interesting anyway, so she couldn't blame him for dozing off._

 _Closing the book, she placed it on the nightstand before sinking into the bed. She then pulled the sheets up to her neck and closed her eyes but the feeling of fatigue did not wash over her the way it usually did. Hinata opened her eyes and blinked up at the dark ceiling above. She didn't feel tired in the slightest. Glancing over at the clock, it well past midnight so she really should be getting to bed. She closed her eyes again and tried counting backward in her mind but she still did feel tired. Hinata huffed and squeezed her eyelids tighter. Maybe if she willed it hard enough, sleep would find her. Unfortunately_ _, she remained like that for the better half of an hour with nothing to show for it._

 _She only had herself to blame. She had been so wrapped up in her reunion with Kurenai that she'd neglected to do little more than make lunch and dinner. The dishes from both meals were still piled up in the sink. She normally would have washed them right away but she'd been too distracted listening to Kurenai and watching Sasuke play with Mirai. Well…more like Mirai played with Sasuke whether_ _he wanted her to or not. Hinata opened her eyes and turned her head to observe the Uchiha as he slept._

 _He had to be worn out after dealing with Mirai for hours on end. He didn't complain about it either like how she'd expected him to. Instead, he allowed the girl the license to babble as much as she wanted to, only reigning her in when_ _curious fingers tried to rip his hair out of his head. Seeing Sasuke with a child, especially one as fearless as Mirai, had been cute. What would he be like when they had their own children? Would he have a_ _hands-off_ _approach like her father or would he be more affectionate? What would their children look like? How many would they have? If they were going to revive a clan there had to be more than one. In order for there to be even one child that meant- Hinata squeaked, her cheeks burning brilliantly in the dark._

 _She sat upright on the bed and turned her body away from the man sleeping next to her._ _Sasuke was to be her husband. As her husband, she would have to do…certain things. Things that she was woefully unfamiliar with._ _The only person she'd ever been attracted to was Naruto. She'd imagined blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies but never the process that would bring them about. Now that her children would definitely be Uchihas, she had to start thinking seriously about how to create them._

 _Hinata swallowed thickly as she peeked over at the sleeping Uchiha. Having children with him would be… difficult. Sasuke had expressed no desire to have children outside of agreeing to their conception through the contract. If he still remembered her from the academy he knew her as a near-mute with short hair and her_ _family's genetic predisposition for pale eyes. There was nothing else about her appearance that he cared about._

 _When she returned his sight, what would he think of her? Would he find her attractive? Hinata snorted at the thought. In her opinion, Sakura was one of the prettiest kunoichis in their year next to Ino. If Sasuke didn't have any inclinations towards her, there was a small chance in hell that she'd gain his affections. In any case, whether_ _he liked her or not, she didn't want to be completely inept when it came to their wedding night. She wasn't sure but Sasuke probably had way more experience in_ _ **that**_ _area than she did. He didn't strike her as one that would be willing to be a patient teacher either._

 _Biting her lower lip, she reached for the stack of books on her bedside table and slid the untitled book out from the bottom of the stack. She didn't really need to hide such a scandalous book since Sasuke couldn't read on his own and the Anbu tended to keep to the exterior of the house. Even though this was her home now and she could essentially_ _do whatever she wanted, it still felt like she was doing something wrong. Something…immoral._

 _Clutching the book close to her chest, she slid out of the bed and quietly tiptoed to the bedroom door and down the hallway. Sasuke would remain sleeping for a few more hours at least but sneaking through the house gave her a small tingling sensation of excitement. When she reached the shared bathroom, she turned on the light and closed the door behind her. She then placed the lid down on the toilet and took a seat with the book in her lap._

 _Opening it up to somewhere in the middle she was greeted with the sight of a move that looked much more intimate than her imagination could have come up with. Both the man and woman were naked of course and sitting on top of one another. However, the woman's body was curled around her partner's, her face buried in the crook of his neck and her chest pressed against his. She blushed at the erotic depiction but didn't close the book. She was alone. There was no one looking over her shoulder. Steeling herself, she slowly flipped through the other pages to see what they had to offer._

 _Each picture came with a page or two of explicit directions on how to achieve what the book called 'maximum pleasure'. There were various descriptions on everything from male and female fellatio to near acrobatic sexual positions. It sounded incredibly cheesy, but she couldn't put the book down. As sinful as it was, it was highly entertaining. Flipping from a page that had a position that required extreme dexterity, Hinata landed on a picture of a woman by herself. Her legs were spread wide, a hand resting in an area that she was not as familiar with as she should be. She blushed, the heat in her own core finally registering in her mind after consuming so much of the book. On the page next to the woman, the title possed only two words. Self Pleasure. Hinata gulped, her mouth suddenly feeling dry as she read the adjoining description._

 _"The only way to achieve true pleasure with a partner is to first understand how to pleasure yourself." Hinata read aloud._

 _The words felt odd on her tongue and the concept they expressed was even moreso. Experiencing pleasure from sex was not something she'd spoken about with her sensei during any of their 'talks'. She knew that it was possible though. The other nurses at the hospital always gossiped about their sex lives, or lack thereof, whenever they were in the break room. Based on the book she held in her hands, there was a multitude of ways to engage with a partner. 'Self-pleasure' was not something that had even crossed her mind. It didn't even sound like something that a proper Hyuuga should explore. Yet, as she read through the passage, it didn't look like something that was hard to do._

 _Hinata shook her head as her thoughts diverged and closed the book. She shouldn't be up reading this kind of book. If anyone found out that she was the one who checked this book out of the library she would surely die of embarrassment. Setting the book on the counter, she stood up and moved to turn on the shower. She still wasn't tired but maybe a shower would help. Stripping off all of her clothes, she jumped into the shower before the water had a chance to get warm and let out a small squeak. Not out of discomfort, the icy water was a much-needed source of relief, but due to the fact that her skin was more sensitive than normal. Her nipples instantly hardened under the cold spray, but she ignored it in favor of reaching for the soap. That silly book was messing with her head. Still, as she poured soap into a washcloth, she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like..._

Letting out a strangled groan, Hinata buried her face in her hands and tried to erase the horrid memory of what had just transpired. She couldn't be sure of how much he had heard but he'd clearly heard something. Hinata groaned again, her shoulders crumpling in on her as her face burned relentlessly. Sasuke probably thought she really _was_ a whore now.

 **… _.._**

Kurenai smiled as she watched Mirai laid out eagle spread on her bed. Normally the girl would be up running amok early in the morning but today she was sleeping soundly. Talking an Uchiha's ear off apparently did that. Leaving the door slightly ajar, Kurenai headed towards her kitchen to begin preparing breakfast. Most days went like this since the birth of her daughter. Wake up, cook, clean, chase after Mirai, sleep, repeat. It was a life in sharp contrast to how her days had been spent when she was on active duty. She missed going on missions and trapping unsuspecting shinobi under her genjutsus. She missed the feeling of strength beneath her fingers as she fought enemy combatants. Most of all she missed training with her students, although they were the furthest thing from what anyone would call students nowadays.

'They could all give me a run for my money.' Kurenai thought with a small laugh as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.

Shino, Kiba, and Hinata had grown up so well and she couldn't be prouder of them. Speaking of which she needed to bring Mirai to the Inuzuka's for a visit. The little girl had been begging to see Akamaru for days now and perhaps they might get lucky and see the new litter. Kami only knew how excited Kiba was for them to arrive. The day he had his own children would be the day the world burned. Shaking her head, she moved from the sink to the fridge to try to find something she could make for breakfast that a picky toddler would like to eat. The contents of her fridge were a bit lacking. Eggs. Butter. A half carton of milk. Some apple slices. There was some flour in the cabinet next to the fridge so it looked like pancakes would be their best option for breakfast. After that, they really needed to go grocery shopping-

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Kurenai blinked and removed her head from the inside of her fridge. Outside of the members of Team 10 and her own former students, she didn't get many visitors. Shrugging her shoulders, she was halfway to the front door when the visitor knocked again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kurenai groused. If they knocked any louder they would wake Mirai and the last thing she wanted to handle was a cranky two-year-old. Yanking open the door, she was surprised to find Hinata standing on the other side. The Hyuuga bowed low at the waist, her dark hair falling like a thick curtain over her shoulders and obscuring her face.

"Hi-Hinata?" Kurenai said.

"Good morning sensei." Hinata replied as she straightened herself from her own. She remained in the doorway, her eyes downcast and her fingers gripping the edge of her lavender top.

Seeing Hinata look so uncomfortable unnerved her. The girls hadn't been this fidgety in years. She opened her mouth to immediately demand answers but instead swallowed her words and led Hinata into her tiny apartment. Hinata was not one that did well when she felt that she was disappointing others. If she felt pressured at all she'd likely shut down and find an excuse to leave. The fact that she was on her doorstep at all could only mean that she was dealing with something serious.

' _And that something serious is probably an Uchiha.'_ Kurenai thought as she motioned for Hinata to take a seat on the couch.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" the older woman asked, keeping her tone as light and easy as possible. Hinata sank down onto the couch, her back rigid and eyes focused on the floor as she shook her head. "Are you sure? You hosted Mirai and I so well yesterday. The least I can do is the same for you when you're in my home."

"Alright." Hinata conceded softly. "Just water please."

Kurenai nodded and left the girl in the living room to fulfill the request. Outwardly she knew that she appeared nonpulsed by Hinata's arrival but on the inside, her thoughts were zooming a mile a minute. What had happened between last night and now? The Uchiha must have done something for Hinata to show up so early in the morning. Sasuke had seemed harmless yesterday. He allowed Mirai free reign without complaint and had been largely silent while they were there. Sure he didn't join them for dinner but she hadn't taken that as a slight. He didn't seem like the type that wanted company during his meals in the first place.

Kurenai took a deep calming breath through her nose as she removed a glass from the cabinet and moved to the sink to fill it up with water. She had to remain calm if she wanted to get honest answers out of Hinata and not just half-truths. After that, she'd deal with the situation as she saw fit. Hopefully, that didn't involve murdering the last of the Uchiha clan but she wasn't above doing so. She wasn't _that_ out of practice after all. Once the glass was full, Kurenai returned to the living room where Hinata was discreetly playing with her fingers in her lap and chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

"Here you go." Kurenai said. Hinata jumped a little in surprise at her voice, so lost in her own thoughts that she'd probably forgotten where she was.

"O-oh. Thank you Kurenai-sensei." She squeaked, a light blush spreading across her cheeks as she accepted the glass.

Kurenai smiled tightly and sat down on the couch next to her former pupil, crossing one leg over the other and resting her elbow on the back of the couch.

"Have you come to play with Mirai? I would have thought that after yesterday you would have been sick of us."

"No!" Hinata said emphatically, her fingers encircled rightly around her glass. "I-I really enjoyed talking to you yesterday and seeing Mirai was wonderful. She's gotten so big!"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow at Hinata's words, knowing there was more that the girl wanted to say. Pale eyes dropped down to her glass of water and the light blush from before deepened.

"It's just…I…I need your help." Hinata said.

"My help?" Kurenai

"Well…" Hinata began, her body shrinking in on itself. "More like your advice. It's about…Sasuke."

The former genjutsu mistress blinked. Hinata needed _her_ advice? About Sasuke? The girl didn't even come to her for advice about Naruto! If she had she would have told her to stop pining after the boy ages ago. Yet here she was, not asking about her longtime crush but about his best friend.

' _My how the tables have turned.'_

"The Uchiha. Uchiha Sasuke." Kurenai said evenly and Hinata nodded her head.

"He-he um I was and he was- and I thought- sleeping- but he wasn't- I just- and I-"

"Hinata you've got to slow down." Kurenai interrupted, placing a hand on the nearly hyperventilating girl. Hinata nodded her head frantically and swallowed several deep gulps of air. "Alright now, what happened."

Hinata blushed and lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes which were full of shame and guilt. Kurenai gulped. It couldn't be that bad right.

"Sasuke heard me doing things in the shower!"

"Wait _what_?!"

Yes…yes it could be.

 **….**

"One hundred. One hundred and one. One hundred and two."

Kakashi idly flipped to the next page in his favorite Paradise book. The pages were well worn, its print like old friends to his eyes. He knew what would happen before it occurred, each revelation and surprise to the characters was an old hat to him. Yet, he still enjoyed every line, every interaction.

"One hundred and thirty- eight. One hundred and thirty-nine."

"We can stop whenever you want." Kakashi sighed as his eyes shifted from his book to the Uchiha he was sitting on.

The boy did not respond to his offer to stop. Instead, he continued counting his push-ups, sweat dripping into the dirt. Kakashi shrugged and adjusted himself slightly on the boy's back. He faltered slightly but still kept on with his push-ups. Kakashi shook his head. The report from his Anbu standing duty from that morning had not been good. Apparently, there had been a scream, a distinctly female scream, that had occurred sometime in the wee hours before the sun had come up. The scream could have only come from Hinata but because there had been no chakra spike, the Anbu didn't enter the house. If Hinata had been in any real danger she would have defended herself in some capacity.

The operative's story of that morning's events was only further corroborated when he found Sasuke in a beyond foul mood. He was already sitting on the back deck when he arrived which should have been his first sign that things were amiss. The second had been the fact that Hinata had not come out to greet him. Hinata _never_ sent Sasuke off without saying goodbye in their own weird way. They never spoke to each other but just her standing there enough for both. With Hinata being absent this morning, she was unlikely to call them in for lunch. It didn't surprise him really that the Hyuuga and Uchiha were having problems. The two were virtual opposites of each other so it was only expected that things get tense between them.

However, whatever the issue was, it was probably Sasuke's fault. Hinata was not the type to go out of her way to pick a fight nor would she complain if she didn't like something. Kakashi flipped to a new page in his book before scratching his chin through his mask. It would be a mess if Sasuke managed to blow up their marriage before it had even started. There was a lot riding on this union, chief among them was the Uchiha's life. He had to get to the bottom of this before things spiraled too far out of control.

"One hundred and ninety-eight. One hundred and ninety-nine."

"Hmmm. I wonder what Hinata is making for lunch." Kakashi wondered aloud. Sasuke faltered slightly in his counting but kept going. "Maybe she will invite me in this time. I've got an hour to kill."

"Shut-" Sasuke grunted, struggling through his umpteenth push-up. "Up dammit."

"Now you can't keep Hinata's cooking to yourself. I get hungry too ya know."

"Two hundred and five. Two hundred and six. Two hundred and seven."

"I bet Hinata will be happy to have me. She has a nice heart." Kakashi teased and patted the top of Sasuke's sweaty head.

There was a bit of wobbling, a shudder, a shake, before the Uchiha's arms finally gave out from underneath him and he fell straight into the dirt. Kakashi tapped the back of the boy's head with the spine of his book and got up.

"That's enough for today." Kakashi said and Sasuke glared up at him from the dirt.

Kakashi watched his dark brows knit together as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground but found that his arms were little more than jello. Part of him identified with the boy's frustration. Today had not been much in the way of training. It was more of a punishment than anything. Hinata screaming for any reason was unacceptable. Taking a seat near the Uchiha's head, he placed his book in the dirt next to him.

"My Anbu had something curious to report to me this morning." Kakashi said casually. Sasuke rolled his eyes but didn't reply. "They say they heard a scream. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and Kakashi reached over to set him upright.

"Hinata-san screaming is not something that I can stand for Sasuke. If Hiashi hears about this-"

"It wasn't my fault." Sasuke growled.

"So you admit something happened?"

"I never touched her if that's what you mean."

"Hinata-san wouldn't scream without reason."

"I said it wasn't my fault!"

"Then who's fault is it?"

Sasuke turned silent, his eyes narrowed blankly at the ground. If Kakashi hadn't seen it with his own eyes he wouldn't have believed it but there it was. A light pink blush that dusted across his dirt-smudged cheeks. That was…odd to say the least. Sighing, Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. Getting information out of Sasuke was going to be like pulling teeth.

"Hinata-san hasn't been harmed." Kakashi stated flatly.

Sasuke remained silent but nodded.

"You didn't touch her."

Again a nod.

"Then why did she scream?"

There was no nod this time. Instead, the blush on his cheek turned from a light pink to a more muted red, spreading to his neck and ears. Kakashi pressed his lips together and got up to his feet before roughly helping Sasuke up as well.

"Sasuke, if you're going to reintegrate back into the village you are going to have to learn to use your mouth to explain things. This might just be a misunderstanding but there will no doubt be more. If you're going to defend yourself against rumors then you're going to have to use your voice." He said, grabbing the Uchiha's elbow so that he could lead him back to the house. "This time, though, I will just have to ask Hinata-san myself-"

"No." Sasuke snapped, yanking his elbow away.

"Sasuke-"

"It is not something for _you_ to talk to her about."

Kakashi opened his mouth to protest but Sasuke appeared resolute in his refusal. Grabbing the stubborn Uchiha's elbow, he resumed their walk. Whatever happened that morning he wouldn't press Sasuke further nor would he question Hinata about the incident, at least not right away. For now, he would employ a subtler tactic to get the answers he desired.

When the reached the house, Kakashi led him up the steps and opened the back door. Inside it was quiet which could only mean that Hinata was still missing. He didn't want to leave Sasuke alone but he'd survive until Hinata returned. Hopefully. Placing a heavy hand on his counterpart's shoulder, he smiled tightly through his mask before taking his leave of the house.

"Remember Sasuke, a happy wife means a happy life."

 **….**

" _A happy wife means a happy life."_

Sasuke glared at the darkness as he rolled over to a more comfortable position on the couch. Hinata was _not_ his wife. At least she wasn't just yet. What did it matter if she was happy or not? He had no control over that woman's wild emotions. Trying to make her happy felt like a fool's errand in the first place, especially after what had transpired that morning. He should have followed his initial instincts and returned to the bedroom before she'd noticed him. Instead, he'd been taken over by other, less intelligible urges and now he was reaping the consequences. The memory of her scream still rang in his ears and threatened to make them bleed.

Sasuke's frown deepened as he rolled over again. The only good thing that had come of that scream was it completely decimated his erection and any desire he might have had. Other than that, she'd locked him out of the bedroom and he hadn't heard from her since.

' _Good riddance.'_ Sasuke mentally grumbled.

He didn't need her anyway. He could do most things on his own now that he was more familiar with the layout of the house. He didn't need her assistance as long as he was within these four walls. However, he sat up as his stomach uncomfortably growled, there was one thing he needed her for and that was food. If Hinata decided to ditch the contract who would they send in her stead? The Hyuuga would not give up the chance to have links to Uchiha blood just because Hinata decided to get cold feet. Hyuuga Hiashi struck him as a more strategic man than that.

With Hinata gone…who came next?

That bratty little sister of hers was an option but Sasuke shuddered at the thought. That girl had a bad attitude on her and a mouth to boot. It was hard to believe that someone as soft-spoken as Hinata was born and raised from the same stock that created that girl. They would end up killing each other before he got his eyes back and he couldn't let that happen.

' _No._ ' Sasuke thought as he leaned back on the couch. _'That_ _Hanabi girl is not an option.'_

With Hanabi out of the running who did that leave? To his knowledge, Hiashi only had two daughters so a girl from the Hyuuga Branch house was a likely option. He tried to imagine another pale-eyed woman milling around his house but the thought of a stranger made his hair stand on end. They wouldn't know how he liked his tea and they probably wouldn't know how to cook the way he liked. He didn't have to tell Hinata the way he liked things, she just did it. Having to have another person fumble around was not ideal. The ghost scent of lavender filled his nostrils as he realized that his options were dwindling. If he was going to get his eyes back and get out of Konoha, Hinata was the only avenue.

' _A happy wife means a happy life.'_

"Stupid Kakashi." Sasuke grumbled under his breath.

How dare he think that he'd hurt that woman in some way. Sure for awhile, he wanted her dead. She knew more about him than he even wanted her to but if he'd hurt her he would have owned up to it. He had no reason to lie. He also had no reason to tell Kakashi what _really_ happened. The Hyuuga would spontaneously combust if people knew of her lurid shower habits and he was not about to admit his own role in the incident. The last thing he needed was Kakashi having more ammo to use against him.

Kakashi's words still nagged at him. If he was going to bide his time it was best to do it comfortably. That meant that Hinata could not drop out of the agreement but how did he make her happy? Another human's happiness was not something he'd ever paid attention to before. Yesterday she seemed to be happy when her old sensei and that kid had been around. He doubted that they could hang around the District every day though so he would not be able to rely on them to make Hinata happy.

Blinking up at the darkness, he pressed his lips together and tried to search his brain for things that would make a woman happy. Sakura and Karin had both asserted that their happiness rested by his side yet Hinata was by his side and she wasn't happy. That meant that the other kunoichi were liars or Hinata needed other things. What those other things were, he had no clue. There was no one for him to ask either. The men he'd spoken to since his awakening were limited to Kakashi and Hiashi. Hell would freeze over before he talked about anything with Kakashi and Hiashi was a nonstarter. There was Naruto… Sasuke snorted and got up off the couch. Asking the man his supposed fiancé was in love with for advice sounded stupid even in his own head.

With no ideas on what to do, he allowed his growling stomach to lead him over to the kitchen to find something to eat. Hinata usually kept apples around to have with tea. He would have preferred to have them sliced but she wasn't around to do that. When he arrived at the kitchen, he felt around for the cold feeling of the fridge but paused.

He sniffed.

Something smelled… _off_.

He followed his nose to the source of the rank smell and felt around. The clinking of dishes filled his ears and the smell of old food sitting in a humid house increased. The smell was strong enough that all thoughts of eating were pushed to the back of his mind.

' _Dammit Hinata._ ' He growled mentally.

She must have forgotten to wash the dishes. Sighing he felt around for the sink faucet and turned on the water. Near the knob, his fingers brushed against something that he hoped was soap so he squirted some of that into the water as well. He hadn't washed dishes in….actually he'd _never_ washed his own dishes. It didn't look too hard though. Soap. Water. That's it. Picking up something squishy and wet, he squeezed it between his fingers and prayed it was a sponge. He didn't want to wash dishes, but it would give him something to do while Hinata was away.

It wasn't like he needed her around to keep from being bored or anything.

 **….**

That evening Hinata returned the Uchiha District, dragging her feet through the gravel at a sluggish pace. Despite her lethargic pace, her heart was beating at a mile a minute. The slightest breeze or crunch of a twig was enough to send her heart hurtling through her ribcage. She shouldn't feel this way but with each step the sensation of dread mounted. The dread of being near Sasuke. The dread of facing the ramifications of that morning. The dread of having someone, especially him, hearing her do _that._ She should have been more careful. She shouldn't have done that at _all_ ….

" _Oh! Oh my god!" Kurenai laughed, the look of pure amusement dancing in her ruby red eyes._

 _Hinata blushed profusely at her sensei's laughter, burrowing her face into one of the throw pillows on the sofa. Her glass of water had long since been traded in for a more sturdier substance. She didn't find this situation to be funny in the slightest. She just wanted to curl up into a hole and die at this point!_

" _Wait, wait, wait." Kurenai gasped, struggling to keep her amusement down to a minimum. "So you locked him out of the bedroom. Where did he go after that?"_

 _Hinata groaned into the pillow and shrugged her shoulders. She had no idea what had become of Sasuke after he'd overhead her. She'd locked herself in the bedroom until the sun came up and finally had the resolve to ask her sensei for advice. When she'd left the room she didn't bother to look for him out of her own shame. She couldn't look him the eye. Not after he'd heard her sound so, so untoward! Not after she'd gotten more than an eyeful of his lower region standing up at attention. Not after he'd looked at her like_ _ **that**_ _. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shake the image of his dark eyes piercing straight through her like he could actually see-_

" _Hinata, listen." Kurenai said, breaking Hinata from her thoughts and taking on a more serious tone. "This kind of thing is bound to happen when two people live together in close quarters, especially those of the opposite sex. It's nothing to be ashamed of. At least you know that everything is in working order."_

" _K-K-Kurenai-sensei!"_

" _I'm serious Hinata. I'm surprised you two haven't run into more awkward situations before now."_

 _Hinata bit her bottom lip but kept her face buried in the pillow. Perhaps it really wasn't that big of a deal but it didn't make her feel any less embarrassed. A slender hand patted the top of her head, running soothing fingers through her hair in a motherly attempt to ease away her negative feelings._

" _If this is really bothering you, which it clearly is, perhaps you should talk to Sasuke?" Kurenai suggested. Hinata raised her head from the refuge of her pillow and stared at the older woman with wide eyes of disbelief. Talk to Sasuke about the 'incident'? She could never do that. She would sooner let the earth swallow her whole! "Don't look at me like that, it's not as scary as it sounds. You are a woman. Sasuke is clearly a man. You both have needs. That being said, you might be getting married but boundaries_ _should be set. You should keep your comfort levels in mind at all time. Don't let him force you to do anything you don't want to-"_

" _Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata squeaked, burying her face back into her pillow._

" _What? Did I say something wrong?"_

" _N-n-no it's just…" Hinata started, her covered face burning brightly. "We haven't…done anything."_

" _Nothing?"_

 _Hinata nodded her head meekly. They hadn't even kissed yet. Doing even that would take nothing short of a miracle at this point._

" _Hinata." Kurenai said softly, her warm hand cupping her cheek and pulling her face out of the pillow. "Do you find the Uchiha to be an attractive man?"_

 _Ruby red eyes stared at her intently and she couldn't lie. Sasuke_ _ **was**_ _an attractive man. Anyone with eyes could see that much. Slowly she nodded her head and Kurenai smiled, rubbing her cheek gently with the pad of her thumb._

" _This is an arranged marriage. Mutual attraction is the most that one could ask for I guess. I wish that things were different for you." She sighed with a sad look in her eyes. "Talk to Sasuke. Come to an agreement as to what is okay and what is not in your own way. It's the only way to make things work between the two of you, that is if you want it to."_

 _If she wanted to…_

 _Those words reverberated in her mind. This situation had to work. There was so much hanging in the balance. She_ _ **had**_ _to try her best but did she want to? Did she want to have his children? Did she want to be with him more intimately than she'd ever been with any other man? Hinata bit her bottom lip and drew blood. She couldn't answer that last question as honestly as she'd like…_

…. Hinata sighed at the memory, her feet having driven her to the front door of the last remaining Uchiha domicile without her knowing it. She had to face Sasuke. She had no other choice than to be an adult and do this with the kind of maturity their situation deserved. With that, she ignored her own childish trepidation and opened the front door. The inside was not silent like it normally was. There was a loud clinking and crashing emitting from the kitchen and drawing her innate concern. She quickly made her way to the kitchen and found the last person she would have expected washing the dishes from the night before. Sasuke stood before a kitchen sink, overflowing with sudsy water and scrubbing dishes with more force than should have been deemed necessary.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said, genuinely surprised to see him in the kitchen let alone washing dishes.

"You're back." He replied flatly.

He didn't turn around to acknowledge her but he didn't appear angry. Was it possible that he'd forgotten about this morning? Hesitantly, Hinata approached him and peered over into overflowing sink. The dishes from the night before were floating in the bottom, his pale fingers clutching the pink sponge the way one would normally hold a kunai. He already had a pile of clean _ish_ dishes set to the side, a puddle of water collecting underneath them on the counter.

Hinata covered her mouth with her hand and tried to muffle the small giggle that was bubbling up in the back of her throat but to no avail. Her mouth split into a full smile and the laughter her fingers tried to hold couldn't be contained. Uchiha Sasuke, arguably one of the strongest shinobi of their generation, was useless for anything that didn't involve killing. He couldn't dig a hole. He couldn't do laundry. He most definitely could not wash dishes, not properly at least.

As she laughed, the Uchiha continued to roughly scrub one of the pans she'd used from the night before. It was so small that she almost missed it but she there was a small uptick of his lips into an _almost_ smirk. Her laughter died down a bit, her previous mortification was briefly forgotten as she reached around him and placed her hand over his. She then slipped the pink sponge from his grasp and bumped him slightly so that he moved to the side.

"I wash, you dry?" Hinata suggested.

The Uchiha made no comment but he didn't leave her side either so she took this as a positive sign. She placed the sponge on the edge of the sink and walked over to one of the counter drawers that held all of their dish towels. As she turned back to him, she paused before returning.

" _Do you find the Uchiha to be an attractive man?"_

Hinata blushed as Kurenai's words floated through her mind. He stood there, leaning lazily against the counter beside the sink with his arms crossed and a blank look on his face. He _was_ attractive but…the real question was if she was attracted to him. Could she be with him in _that_ way? Hinata blushed as she recalled some of the rather well detailed erotic images in her library book.

She tried to imagine it being _Sasuke's_ hands on her hips and his lips on her skin. _His_ fingers exploring places that she'd just discovered that morning. A light clearing of his throat drew Hinata back to reality and turned her face impossibly red. It was rude to stare at people. If her father saw her ogling Sasuke now he would surely be disappointed in her.

Quickly she shifted her eyes downward and returned her focus to the task at hand.

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming a Friend**


	17. Becoming a Friend

**CCNote** **: Happy Thursday! Do you know what I find hilarious? How you guys make puns out of the story title lol! My favorite from the last chapter was how one reviewer wrote that someone should open a window because it's Becoming Hot. I love the play on words and I had a goofy grin on my face for at least twenty minutes. I also love the speculation about when/if Sasuke will regain his sight. Y'all know I won't tell you til it happens right? Love ya though!**

 **If the wait between updates gets to be too much to bear, pop on over to my profile and check out some of my completed fics. A is for Uchiha is my personal favorite ;) Don't zoom through too quickly or you'll fall into a story hole. Also, be sure to leave reviews for any stories you enjoy. They might be completed but I still wanna know what you think!**

 **Anywho, I hope that you will enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Ignore glaring errors, I'll go back later to clean it up. Don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Friend**

Sakura sighed as she paused in her work. The water vapor from her breath fogged up her goggles and provided a temporary reprieve from the grotesque sight in front of her. It didn't last for long though. Soon the tiled room full of water hoses, cleaning equipment, and bedpans returned and she mentally groaned. Washing bed pans had to be the worst duty at the hospital outside of giving sponge baths. Someone with her knowledge and skill had no business being regulated to such a task but here she was, squatting in calf-high rubber boots and a hazmat suit. Grabbing an already rinsed out pan, she poured in the necessary disinfectant and proceeded to scrub the container until it shined.

"Incoming!"

Sakura groaned underneath her mask as a cart of new bedpans arrived. The nurse delivering them flashed her a pitying look as she parked the cart in the middle of the room and switched to grab a clean stack from the shelf. Sakura ignored her nosy looks and focused on cleaning the bedpan she had. It felt as if she were drowning in shit but she only had herself to blame…

" _Lady Tsunade." Sakura said hesitantly as she stood awkwardly in front of her mentor's desk._

 _The blonde woman did not look up from her work, a rare feat for someone who abhorred anything to do with ink and paper. Instead, she adjusted a pair of small spectacles on the bridge of her nose without acknowledging the newcomer's existence. Sakura glanced over at Shizune who was standing just behind Tsunade with Tonton sleeping in her arms. The dark haired woman flashed her a small smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes._

" _I'm here to work but my office is locked." Sakura said._

" _Shizune." Tsunade called out and the woman in question jumped slightly. "These are all complete."_

 _Sakura's eye twitched. How long was Tsunade going to ignore her? The sooner she went back to work the better right?_

" _The other nurses say that you have the key." Sakura interjected as she watched Shizune place Tonton on the floor and gather the stack of now completed paperwork from Tsunade's desk._

" _Tell Kakashi I'd like to have a word with him when he finishes with that stack." Tsunade said, removing her glasses and leaning back in her chair._

" _Yes, Lady Tsunade." Shizune said with a respectful bow before scurrying out of the room._

 _Sakura clenched her fists by her sides as Shizune left, the office door softly clicking shut behind her. She opened her mouth to speak again but Tsunade raised a hand to silence her._

" _I am disappointed in you." The older woman said flatly. Sakura slowly closed her mouth and her eyes slid down to her feet. "You came to me to get stronger."_

 _Sakura bit her bottom lip as Tsunade stood up from her desk and approached her. Small black heels came into her view but she did not look up to make eye contact with the owner._

" _If Sasuke were to be yours what would you do? Have I wasted my time?"_

 _Again, Sakura found herself at a loss as each word Tsunade uttered cut deep. What would she have done if she was actually able to have Sasuke? More than likely she would have had to quit for some time in order to take care of him in his current state. The hospital would struggle in her absence. Their patients wouldn't get the same care they needed with everyone spread so thin. It wasn't much different from now to be honest. At least in a hypothetical world, she had the possibility of Sasuke's love to show for it. Mentally she cursed herself. She couldn't continue to allow her mind to run down that track._

" _That office is no longer yours." Tsunade said, breaking Sakura from her thoughts. "You will begin from the bottom as a supplemental aid to assist the staff that was put out during your absence. We will see how you do from there."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Another nurse will be assigned to monitor the Uchiha's health in your stead."_

 _"But Lady Tsunade, you can't just replace me across the board!" Sakura protested, her head finally snapping up to look at the hard-eyed woman. "I will be of more help if I were to resume my work as before-"_

" _You will be of more help when you learn the value of your place." Tsunade snapped. "I allowed you six months to work on that Uchiha even when he was a lost cause. That little project siphoned away resources we didn't have and precious time that you didn't have to give. Then you fall off the face of the earth because he's getting married and put the hospital on the back burner. This hospital is not a hobby."_

" _I…I'm sorry-"_

 _"No. No, you are not. Do not ever apologize to me again. I will not accept it."…._

…. Sakura frowned as she recalled the events from yesterday. It wasn't fair that she was stuck scrapping shit in the hospital sanitation ward. The looks the other nurses shot at her were not because they felt sorry for her punishment but for the reason _why_. In their eyes, she'd lost. She'd lost to Hinata and there hadn't even been a competition. All of her work, all of her sacrifices had been for nothing in the end.

With a heavy sigh, she stood up from her crouch to bring a freshly scrubbed stack of bedpans over to the rinsing and sanitization station. She dumped the gloves she was wearing in the proper bin and pulled on a pair of new ones. Turning on the faucet, she then dumped the pans into the sink and allowed it to fill up with water and a neutralizing agent. She stared at the water blankly, her own eyes burning with the threat of tears. Sniffing, she bit her bottom lip beneath her face mask to the point that it almost split just to keep the tears back.

"Get ahold of yourself!" Sakura snapped, her voice echoing off of the tiled walls. She then shut off the faucet and started scrubbing the pans again.

"He was never mine to begin with."

Even though she said the words over and over in her head it didn't make her heart hurt any less. If anything it only added to the heavy burden of shame she carried on her shoulders. She'd let the hospital down. She'd let her sensei down…

"Lady Tsunade." Sakura said.

' _I am disappointed in you…Have I wasted my time?'_

Had she? Had Tsunade really wasted her time training her all these years? Had all those sleepless nights…all of the lives she'd saved and the ones she'd lost…had it all amounted to her scrubbing shit in a sanitation ward?! Sakura narrowed her eyes at the murky water before she furiously began rinsing out the bedpans. No. It wasn't a waste of time. This would _not_ be all she amounted to.

'Disappointed?' Sakura thought with an indignant snort. 'I'll make her eat those words just watch. I know where my place is and it isn't playing in shit.'

 **….**

"Sasuke." Hinata said, approaching his side to awkwardly stand next to him. "I don't think he's coming today."

The Uchiha grunted but didn't move from his spot on the deck. He wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that Kakashi had decided to be a no-show or the fact that Hinata had been dancing around him since yesterday afternoon. It had been a never-ending almost conversation with her and it was making him frustrated. She'd even gone so far as to build a wall of pillows between them last night. The wall didn't last very long though because he'd torn it down in the middle of the night when she'd finally fallen asleep. It was too hot for all of those pillows to be on the bed in the first place.

His fingers curled on his thigh into a tight fist as his frustration boiled beneath his skin. He wanted to break something. Anything. He just needed to move before all of this pent-up energy made him explode. He _would_ have found some sort of release if Kakashi had actually shown up like he was supposed to.

"Sasuke-" Hinata started and his frown deepened with the sound of her voice.

Stupid woman.

Stupid Kakashi.

Stupid fucking Konoha.

He was wasting away within these village walls! If he didn't get this energy out he was surely going to go insane at some point. When that happened, Kakashi and his minions would definitely need to worry about their precious Hyuuga's safety. The deck groaned when she took a small step away from him. Apparently ignoring her was an effective way to make her go away but he wasn't ready for her to take her leave of him. She could serve as some use to him in his current state. Reaching out to his right, his hand landed on her forearm and she stopped in her tracks. He felt her jump slightly at the contact and inwardly he smirked. He wasn't so crippled that she didn't see him as a threat. That was good. She might not be as stupid as he thought she was.

"Fight me." He said.

"Wh-what?" Hinata stammered, his grip tightening on her forearm.

"Fight. Me."

"Sasuke I-"

The Uchiha huffed as he rose to his feet and descended the stairs with the surprised woman in tow. Behind him, she continued to protest but he paid no heed to her words. She was supposed to take care of him right? That meant making sure he didn't go stir crazy. He needed an outlet and right now she was the best that he could get. After taking a few more steps into the backyard though, Hinata finally managed to yank her arm away from him and stood her ground.

"Sasuke I will not fight you." She said firmly. His upper lip curled distastefully at her refusal. Couldn't she be cooperative just this once?

"Are Hyuugas too prideful to fight a blind man?" he sneered.

"That's not it. Sakura hasn't even been by to check on you-"

"Do I need Sakura's go-ahead to wipe my ass?"

"No, but-"

"Then I don't need her approval for this."

"Sasuke-"

"Are you afraid then?" he goaded.

"No-"

"Fight me."

"Sasuke-" she started, a refusal already culminating on the tip of her tongue but it never emerged.

He didn't give it a chance.

He was already hurtling towards her with a fist clenched and aimed in the direction of her voice. His action had been foolhardy to say the least. As Kakashi reminded him repeatedly, a straightforward attack in his state was an idiotic move. It was worth it though. One minute his feet were rushing towards her and the next they were over his head as she successfully blocked his attack. His lungs forcefully released air as he fell unceremoniously to the ground. Hinata crouched down next to him, her usual soft demeanor nowhere to be found.

"Do you really want me to fight you?"

He turned his head to the side but didn't answer her question. He shouldn't have to. Hinata sighed at his actions and tugged on his wrist to help him up to his feet.

"I…I'm not going to fight you but I will help you as best as I can." She said, her soft voice taking on a more authoritative edge to it. She then stepped away from him before calling out again. "Try coming at me from the right."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her instructions but did as she said. A small hand smacked his arm and he took a couple of steps back with narrowed eyes. He charged again but was left with the same result only this time the smack was a bit harder. Sasuke rubbed his arm absently as he contemplated what to do next. Hinata wasn't a large woman. He knew for a fact that even without his sight he could take her on in close quarters. The only reason why she was able to thwart him was because he couldn't see her. His upper lip curled again and he charged at her. This time she sidestepped him and his momentum combined with surprise sent him tumbling face first into the dirt.

"Sorry, Sasuke." Hinata apologized, scurrying up to his side to help him. He rejected her assistance and got up on his own.

'Stupid woman.' He growled and spun on his foot to charge at her again.

He was met with nothing but air swooshing past his face when she dodged his attack as if he hadn't even tried. Their 'spar' went on like this well after the noon sun had dipped down lower into the sky. He hadn't been able to get a single hit in on the woman but it was not for a lack of trying. She was too small and too fast for him to catch in his current state. Despite him going at her full force with every intention to inflict harm, she never once hit him harder than a brief sting. She never infused her open palms with chakra as Hyuugas were known to do. It was frustrating to know that she was going easy on him. This woman was truly going to drive him insane.

Currently, she sat silently near his head as he laid in the grass, panting to catch his breath. He shouldn't be this winded but apparently, his stamina was not what he'd thought it was. He listened to the woman sigh softly, her thigh close enough that if he turned his head his nose would surely brush against her skin. It was a tempting prospect but not one that he would allow himself to indulge in. He could also move away but he tossed away that idea as soon as it crossed his mind. The only option that he was okay with was remaining still.

So he did.

Her proximity filled his nostrils with that startlingly familiar lavender and vanilla scent. It was mixed now with sweat but it wasn't as unappealing as it once was. At least he didn't feel the urge to throw up anymore.

"You're getting better." Hinata said softly as a cool breeze lazily drifted over them. Sasuke snorted at her words. He didn't need someone like her patronizing him. "I'm serious."

"I don't need your praise or pity." He grunted between pants.

"I never thought you did."

Silence fell over them as the wind took the last of her words with it. Sasuke took a deep breath as another breeze passed by, relishing the cool sensation against his skin. At the same time, he detested it. The fact that he could feel the wind meant that he was still alive. For what purpose though? After he regained his sight and left the village what more was there for him to do? Where would he go? Sasuke frowned at his thoughts, thoroughly annoyed by his own asinine questions. The answer to all of them was nothing. He had nothing left.

"Sasuke, you mostly use your Sharingan to fight right?" Hinata asked, her soft voice cutting through his dark thoughts.

Sasuke's brows scrunched at her question. It was stupid of her to even ask such a thing. Of course he used his eyes. As a fellow kekkegenki user she of all people knew how integral that power was to their fighting style.

"Could you…um maybe you could tell me more about the Sharingan. I…I might be able to help you train more if I knew more about how you fight."

"Che." Sasuke grunted skeptically as he folded his arms behind his head. "Do the Hyuuga want the secrets to the Sharingan on top of all the property and funds?"

He didn't trust this woman farther than he could throw her.

"No that's not why-"

She wanted something from him.

"So you've decided to throw yourself into matriarch duties then?"

Everyone wanted something from him.

"That's not it at all!"

Liar.

"What do you want then?"

"I… I want to be your friend!" the normally soft-spoken woman shouted. Overhead, he could hear the crows as they flapped away from their perches at the unexpected noise. Sasuke himself was surprised by her outburst.

"I'm sorry for yelling b-b-but I…"

Friend?

"I know that you don't…trust me…"

She wanted to be his friend?

"That's okay…I… I wouldn't trust me either."

The only person he considered to be a friend had been his brother. Itachi had been everything to him. He'd also taken everything away. In the end, he was left with his brother's blood on his hands and no other purpose for his life. A friend was not something he wanted.

"I just…"

He didn't have anyone he considered to be a friend at this point. Not even Naruto. Naruto was…different. There were ties between them that even Kami wouldn't be able to sever. 'Friend' wasn't even a term that would come close to describing his relationship with the village idiot.

"I just want to be your friend."

Was this what she'd been awkwardly dancing around him about? Was this something that she truly desired or was it a ploy to gain his trust? Sasuke sat up and a ran a hand through his hair. Trust was something that he couldn't give anyone. He'd learned at an early age, even before the massacre of his clan, to always look over his shoulder. People- especially women- were always duplicitous.

Yet…this woman.

"I…I hope that's okay?"

This stupid woman… seemed sincere.

' _Remember Sasuke, a happy wife means a happy life.'_

 **….**

Training with Sasuke had not been what she'd expected at all. Not that that was a bad thing necessarily. It allowed her to see a side of him that normally she didn't get to. He was stubborn to a fault and had no concept of words like 'no' and 'wait'. He spoke in a way that kept anyone from getting close to him. His sharp words provided a veil that obfuscated his true desires. With his eyes gone, his words were the only things he had to protect himself. With his freedom diminished, his hatred was the last thing he had to hold on to.

Was it wrong of her to want to be his friend? Was she asking for too much?

A man like Sasuke didn't enjoy the companionship of others. He did not freely laugh at jokes or provide any of his own. His likes and dislikes were things he kept close to his chest, only revealing themselves in tiny bits and pieces. She might be overstepping her bounds but offering friendship was the only thing that she could give him freely that wasn't already demanded by the contract. Taking care of him, making sure he didn't run away, reviving the Uchiha clan…those were all things that were her duty. Being his friend was not.

Hinata smiled to herself as she assembled several dishes on her tray and walked them out to the table where Sasuke was waiting for her. They had a lot that they needed to talk about. She wasn't even sure how to begin broaching the more serious topics of their relationship. Her throat felt like it was closing up every time her mouth began to form the words. She could try to be his friend though. She was comfortable with being friends and Kurenai had said to take things at her own pace. Contract or no, she couldn't force herself to do more than what she was ready for. With that thought in mind, she set the tray down on the table and began to arrange each dish in its usual order in front of Sasuke.

"From the left," she said as she placed a pair of chopsticks into his hand. "Rice. Fish. Steamed vegetables. Miso."

"Hn." He said before immediately going for his rice bowl and pulling it closer to him.

Hinata hid a small smile behind her hand at his muted eagerness and started to step away from the table. Her own stomach was growling furiously for her to eat as well.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked just as she took another step towards the kitchen. Hinata tilted her head curiously at his question and answered.

"To the kitchen."

"To eat."

"Yes…to eat."

She always took her meals apart from him and he'd never noticed before. Worriedly, she watched as Sasuke pushed the bowl of rice away, laying his utensils down next to it. Had she done something wrong?

"Stay." He said flatly, his eyes focused staunchly on a point just past her shoulder.

"Stay?" Hinata repeated.

Stay.

He wanted her to stay. Her heart lurched uncomfortably in her chest and her entire body was rendered useless to do little more than stand there.

He wanted her to stay….

… _."That will be all for today Neji."_

" _Yes…uncle."_

 _Hinata peeked curiously through the small gap of the shoji door that led to the dojo. Inside stood her father, his stiff back turned to her as he spoke to the younger man kneeling before him. She bit her bottom lip and held her breath as she waited for Neji to rise but he didn't. His forehead remained pressed against the stiff tatami of the dojo, his body crouched in submission. When her father turned around, Hinata quickly scurried off to a nearby alcove to avoid his detection. The shoji door slid open and closed. Her father's heavy footsteps paused just outside of the door for a moment but soon began their trek down the hall in the opposite direction._

 _Hinata stayed hidden the tiny alcove, her fingers curled tightly around the wooden handles of the tray. She shouldn't hide from her father. Hiding within the Hyuuga compound was a futile endeavor. Their all-seeing eyes knew everything about everyone. She wasn't supposed to be here. She was lucky that she'd even made it out of her room and to the kitchens without detection. Straightening her back, Hinata took a deep, shaky breath and a small step from the shadows. She'd made it this far. She just had to keep going._

 _Hesitantly, she placed one foot in front of the other, focusing all of her attention on her feet to keep from making a sound or tripping. It would be terrible if all of her efforts had been foiled by her own carelessness! Once she reached the door to the dojo, she took another breath and slid it open. Neji was still inside with his forehead pressed to the floor. He didn't look up when she entered nor did he make a sound of acknowledgment for her presence. She opened her mouth to speak but the words caught in her throat. The last time she'd spoken to him…his eyes had been filled with hatred. The last time she'd been this close, he had tried to kill her._

 _Hinata gulped as her palms began to sweat and her heart rate increased. Would he still look at her that way? Did he still hate her? The elders and her father had kept them separated for a reason. They always had their reasons. Hinata took a step forward, the ceramic tea kettle and cup clinking against one another as she did so. Neji had his reasons as well. It was her fault his father was dead. It was her fault that he had to experience this punishment. It was her fault-_

" _Hinata…sama."_

 _Hinata gasped at the sound of her name, her eyes hesitantly rising from staring blankly at the tray to her cousin. His long brown hair fell loosely around his shoulders as he rose to sit up properly. He still looked just as he always did. As proud and as stoic as he always was…yet, there was something in his eyes that her twelve-year-old mind couldn't grasp. It was something she'd only experienced when she saw the gates of the compound after a long mission. An emotion that filled her heart when her teammates smiled at her despite their injuries. It was something that she wanted to describe as a relief but it didn't make any sense. There were other emotions mixed within his eyes as well. Emotions that she'd never experienced herself. His lips spread into an almost smile that was so surprising she looked over her shoulder to make sure he was actually looking at her._

" _You're alright." He said softly and Hinata swallowed thickly._

 _She was alright. The med-nin said that it was a miracle that she was still alive. If Neji's attack had landed just a little closer…if he'd hit just a little harder…her heart would no longer beat. No one would have been able to save her. For now, all she had to show for her defeat were sore limbs, fading bruises, and slight difficulties breathing. It was nothing compared to what Neji had to go through._

 _Taking a few steps forward, the tea kettle and cup clinked furiously together until she set the tray down in front of him. Neji eyed the tray for a moment as if analyzing it for answers. It wasn't much. It was but a small defiance of the elders' wishes…selfish desire of her own. A desire for peace. A desire for him to not hate her so much. Even just a little bit. Hinata opened her mouth to explain but again came up empty. When Neji's pale eyes rose back up to her own, her entire body stiffened and she took a half step back. She was afraid. She didn't want to be afraid. She didn't want him to hate her. She wanted…she wanted….she wanted him to be her friend._

" _Hinata-sama." Neji said when she took another step back._

" _Stay."….._

"Stay." Hinata said softly, her voice quivering as she did so.

The memory of Neji…the emotion in his eyes when he saw her for the first time after the chunin exams. She now knew exactly what he felt when he saw her. Pain. Shame. Regret. All of it mixed together to create a confusing set of feelings but relief had won out over them all. The relief that he wasn't as terrible as he thought he was. Hinata sniffed as she walked up to the table and pulled out a chair. Neji wasn't terrible. She hated that he thought he was. He'd spent his entire life trying to make it up to her…trying to prove to himself that he was in fact good…

"You're crying."

Hinata blinked at the sound of Sasuke's voice. Reaching up, she pressed her fingers against her cheeks and found them to be cold and wet. When was the last time she'd allowed herself to cry?

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

The delivery was cold. It didn't sound like he really wanted an answer, but it felt familiar in a way. Their abrasiveness was the same. Their distance was the same. However, Sasuke's sharp words cut in places that had already scarred over many years ago. Hinata smiled despite the tears that continued to fall, childishly rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hands and grateful that he couldn't actually see her.

"I'm sorry." Hinata answered, slightly choked up by her own tears. "You…you just remind me of someone."

"Neji?"

Hinata stopped rubbing her eyes at the mention of her cousin's name. How did he know about Neji? She'd never talked about him before in any context. Did he remember Neji from the academy? No. That couldn't be it. Neji had been in a separate class from them. Maybe he remembered Neji from the chunin exams. Even then, it still didn't make sense for him to immediately conclude that she was crying about him. Before she could even open her mouth the ask further, Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his unruly dark hair.

"You say his name in your sleep often. You cry when you do."

Hinata blushed in embarrassment at her childish actions.

'I thought I'd stopped crying long ago.' She thought to herself, a smile working its way onto her face despite her embarrassment.

"Is he another boyfriend of yours?" Sasuke asked flatly as he picked up his chopsticks again. Hinata laughed and shook her head.

"No, but he was someone very important to me."

"Was?"

The Hyuuga ran a hand through her hair before resting her elbow on the table as she watched Sasuke begin to eat. 'Was' was not a proper way to speak about Neji. He might be gone but he was still here with her. He was the reason her heart was still beating. He was the reason she had to do her best no matter what.

"Is. Neji-nii-san will always be very important to me."

 _ **To be Continued….**_ **Becoming Closer**


	18. Becoming Closer

**CCNote:** **Ta-dah! School festival is over and the sun is threatening to burn us alive! Here's a new chappie! I hope you enjoy it. I know it's been a minute but please don't forget to REVIEW! Your reviews really do motivate me! As long as I know people want to read this story, I'll keep updating.**

 **Becoming Closer**

"That's so cool!"

"Me next! Me next!"

"No me!"

Naruto grinned as the children all shouted over each other to see who got to ask him the next question. He was pretty sure an all-out brawl would break out between them if they didn't settle down pretty soon. He glanced at the door, anxiously hoping that it would open to reveal his former teacher but alas it was useless. Iruka had to take a student to the hospital because of a bad stomach bug. It would be awhile before he made it back across town to the makeshift academy building.

"Stop it, Yuri! It's my turn!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Mine!"

"No, mine!"

This was getting a bit out of hand. How was he going to be a good Hokage if he couldn't control a classroom of kids?! Clearing his throat, he scanned the class to find the one kid that wouldn't feed into the already anarchist atmosphere. Instantly he spotted a small brunette with her hand barely raised but her brown eyes were hopeful. Naruto pointed at her and pink blush raced but her neck and cheeks. It was so similar to Hinata that he couldn't help but smile.

"You there…ughhhhhhh what was your name again?" he asked and the girl nearly jumped out of her skin.

"R-r-r-Rin!" she stammered.

"Yea Rin! What's your question?"

Naruto grinned broadly as Rin's face turned red and she pressed her paper against her nose to hide. It was cute! She was so small and meek, absolutely nothing like the other little monsters that were vying for his attention-

"Do you have a girlfriend?!" Rin shouted and the room went silent.

Pencils that were being thrown weren't caught by their intended. Books dropped and butts sat back down into their proper seats. For the first time all day, all eyes were on him. Even the sleepy kid in the back was watching him intently. Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Well do you?" a blonde girl next to Rin asked. What was her name again? Chise? Mitsuri?

"Um well, I-"

"Cuz if you don't have one Anko-sensei is single!"

"No no no! He should be with Karui-sensei she knows how to cook! Anko-sensei will only kill him!"

"You're both wrong-"

Naruto groaned and ran a tired, hand over his face. This was even worse than before. He peeked through his fingers at Rin who was now engaged in a rousing debate over who would get to be his girlfriend in ten years and closed his eyes. How could such a girl rile the class up like this? She'd seemed so innocent too. Looks were deceiving.

"Yo." A familiar voice called out but before he had a chance to turn around, there was a short and none too gentle rapt to the back of his head.

"It's the Hokage!"

"Hokage-sama!"

Naruto pouted as he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head and listened to the children re-erupt with unbridled enthusiasm. How quickly they'd forgotten him! Even Rin was excitedly giggling with the girls sitting on either side of her. Kakashi took a step forward to stand beside him and lazily gave the children a small wave. That simple gesture riled them up even more.

"What am I chopped liver?" Naruto grumbled as he stopped rubbing the place where Kakashi had hit him.

"The love of the masses is a fickle one." Kakashi said just as the door to the classroom swung open once more to reveal an irate Anko.

"All right ya brats!" the dark-haired woman yelled. "Settle down now or its laps for the rest of the afternoon!"

"But-"

"Anko-sensei!"

"No buts! Sit down! Shut up!"

The students followed Anko's direction, not withholding their disappointed grumblings, and reluctantly started to resemble children instead of wild animals. Crossing her arms over her chest, Anko smiled and turned her dark eyes onto Naruto and Kakashi.

"I'll take it from here guys." She sad with a rather evil smirk.

"Nooooooooooooooo!"

"I said shut up!"

Awkwardly, Naruto waved goodbye to the children as he followed Kakashi out of the room. He certainly didn't envy the fate of the children under Anko's supervision. Hopefully, Iruka would return soon and they would be saved from whatever draconian assignment she thought up. With a sigh, Naruto placed his hands behind his head as the classroom door closed, keeping in step with Kakashi who didn't seem to be in a rush to be anywhere. Didn't he have Hokage duties to attend to or something? Naruto smirked as they walked through the halls and made their way outside.

'I can already tell that I'm going to be a thousand times better at being Hokage!' he thought. 'Ha! Just watch-'

His thoughts of grandeur were abruptly ended when the swinging door to outside smacked him hard in the face. The stinging pain of the hit caused his eyes to water and his hands to immediately cover his throbbing nose.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he shouted through the door before storming out. "Why didn't you hold the door open?"

Kakashi shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You should have been paying attention to your surroundings. What kind of Hokage will you be if you are easily defeated by doors?"

Naruto grumbled under his breath and clutched his nose. No one asked Kakashi to be a smart ass. He'd be a much better Hokage than him _anyway._

"As you know I'm very busy," Kakashi started as the pair began to walk away from the school. Naruto merely rolled his eyes at the statement. Kakashi was the least busy Hokage known to the village. "However, I've been trying to keep my eye on Sasuke and his progress."

"Progress?" Naruto questioned. "The bastard seems alright to me. His attitude needs fixing but when does it not?"

"It's his attitude that I'm most concerned about actually. It's been almost three months since he and Hinata have started living together but he hasn't taken very well to her-"

"Wait has he hurt her?" Naruto demanded, skidding in front of the older man to prevent him from walking further. If something had happened to Hinata, he would be the last person she told. Slouching slightly, Kakashi let out an even sigh.

"I don't believe he has. However, he won't talk to me and I don't want to put Hinata more on edge than I'm sure she already is."

Naruto nodded at Kakashi words and shoved his hands into his pockets. Sasuke wasn't exactly the friendliest person to be around. He could only hope that he was some semblance of nice to Hinata but he knew that wasn't a chance worth betting on.

"So that's why I need you." Kakashi said, bring Naruto's attention back to him. "Sasuke won't talk to me-"

"He's not going to talk to me either." Naruto interrupted, already picking up on where his former sensei might be going with his request.

"Perhaps…" Kakashi sighed. "But it's worth trying nonetheless."

 **…..**

The nearly abandoned Uchiha District was silent as she made her way up the gravel path from the front gates to the last remaining structure. She'd gotten used to the silence and in a way had come to prefer it over the hustle and bustle of the downtown area she'd just left. As the village rebuilt itself there was a constant influx of new faces that brought with them foreign tongues. New and exciting food stalls were beginning to crop up on every street corner. Their unfamiliar spices filled the air which was already heavy with the sounds of construction. The village was finally coming back to life.

It was nice in its own way. Everything was exciting and new. Sometimes her heart ached for the way the streets used to look. She longed for the tiny bakery shop that was now replaced by a shoe repair, it's sinful cinnamon scent no longer wafting through its storefront… Yet, what she was coming to find in recent days, she didn't pine for the past for long. The overstimulation of village had her quickly finishing up her errands and eager for her feet to take her back to the silence of the Uchiha District. Taking a deep breath, she carried her bags up the front steps to the house and skillfully opened the front door.

Once inside, she brought the bags into the kitchen and immediately began transferring the meats and dairy products into their proper locations in the fridge. She then set the vegetables she would use for their dinner in the sink and made a mental note to rinse them later. After that task was complete, she looked around the kitchen for something else to do. It was pristine of course but the pent-up energy inside of her kept her from resting on her laurels. Dissatisfied that there was nothing else for her to do in the kitchen, she moved to the living room and found it to be just as clean.

The back door that led to the deck was open and caught her eye. She was positive that she'd shut it before she left. Hinata frowned slightly and made her way to the door to close it but paused when she saw a pair of familiar pale feet protruding from the corner. She took a step outside to investigate further and was met with a rather amusing sight of a shirtless Sasuke splayed out on the deck. If it weren't for the subtle rise and fall of his chest she would have thought he was dead instead of merely sleeping. Hinata shook her head at the sight and took a few steps onto the deck to get a closer look. When she reached him, she crouched down to sit by his side. It wasn't often that she found him sleeping on his own. If she did, he was usually suffering from a nightmare. Or perhaps he was just relieving his memories?

For a man like Sasuke…there was little difference between the two.

Fortunately, this time his features were relaxed and the cries for those long dead did not spill from his lips. For the first time since she'd met him, he actually looked at peace. Without thinking about it, Hinata reached out and brushed a few inky locks off of his forehead. As her fingers brushed against his skin, he didn't flinch away as if her touch sickened him. Of course, it was because he was sleeping but she would never be able to push his conscious actions from her mind.

" _Do you think he's an attractive man?"_

'Yes.' Hinata thought as his fingers absently trailed down to his cheek. 'Yes, he is.'

Uchiha Sasuke was a very attractive man, anyone with eyes would agree…

" _Would you kiss a man like me?"_

The faint smell of sake filled her nose, the ghost of his breath washing over her face as he drew near. Hinata leaned forward automatically as if her body were trying to answer the question for her. Her long, dark hair fell around his face like a dark curtain, blocking the outside world and drawing her attention to the gentle curve of his lips.

Could she kiss someone like him?

Would she?

"Hinata."

The woman in question froze in place at hearing her name so unexpectedly and stared wide-eyed into obsidian that threatened to swallow her whole.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, his deep voice snapping her out of her froze stupor. She moved to retract as he simultaneously sat up.

"I-I-I'm sorry." She stammered out, a violent red blush inflaming her cheeks.

"Yo!" a cheerful voice shouted from just beyond the opened back door, the sound of which almost made her faint.

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped as she looked up to see the blonde grinning broadly in the doorway.

How long had he been standing there? How much had he seen?

"Hey, Hina-chan!"

His voice didn't betray that he'd seen her nearly take advantage of his unconscious best friend. He appeared just as cheerful as he always was. Was that a ruse or had he really not seen anything?

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke grumbled as he laid back down on the deck with a huff.

"I take time out of my busy day to come visit you and _that's_ the hello I get?"

"Hn."

"You're a right bastard ya know that?" Naruto scoffed, placing his hands on his hips just as Sasuke rolled over onto his side. "A lazy bastard too. How do you put up with him Hina-chan?"

Hinata blushed and waved her hands in front of her in an attempt to physically express what her mouth was unable to say. Sasuke growled beside her.

"Go away."

"I just got here!"

Hinata's eyes darted between the two men as Naruto approached them. Sasuke was never in the mood for visitors and her invasion of his space had done nothing to lift his attitude. Naruto, on the other hand, did not care one iota about Sasuke's mood nor did he leave as had been demanded. Instead, he squatted near Sasuke's head and proceeded to poke and prod him repeatedly on the cheek. Hinata gulped and began to put some distance between the two men before Sasuke decided to explode.

"Oi Saaassssssuuuuuukkkkkkeeeeeee!" Naruto whined as Hinata stealthy made her departure into the house. "You're soooooooooo boring dammit!"

Once she reached the refuge of their small home, she closed the back door behind her and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She pressed a shaky palm against her chest and squeezed her eyes closed, praying all the while that Naruto had not seen what she'd so foolishly been about to do. Hoping against the odds that Sasuke would forget about what happened. Even if he didn't she could always lie… no that wouldn't work. She was a terrible liar! Kiba and Shino had always told her as much. Speaking of which…. Out of the corner of her eye, Hinata glanced at the back door and pit her bottom lip. Since Naruto was here, he would probably keep Sasuke busy for a few hours. If that was the case then she should probably get started in making something for lunch. She couldn't let Naruto leave on an empty stomach and if the past was a precedent, the blonde had a nearly insatiable appetite.

 **….**

Naruto turned for a moment and stared at the back door as soon as it had closed behind Hinata. He'd tried to make light of the situation and play off of his own inherent ignorance. However, he wasn't as clueless as people believed. In fact, one too many knocks in the head from Sakura had probably shaken a few of his brain cells loose. He'd seen the hesitant way Hinata hovered over Sasuke and how she descended closer to him. The space between them shortened and part of him wanted to run out and stop it. Another part kept him watching through the gap in the door. Before he could even analyze the confliction, the deep sound of Hinata's name emerging from his best friend's lips made the decision for him. He didn't sound happy either.

The Uzumaki sighed as he kept poking Sasuke on his cheek until the area turned red. What was he going to do with this heartless bastard? Sure he hadn't been able to react properly when Hinata had kissed him but at least he hadn't expressed anger. Most guys would be happy to be kissed by someone like Hyuuga Hinata. Most guys.

"Stop fucking poking me!" Sasuke snarled, finally giving up on his 'ignore' strategy and smacking his hand away.

"Oi!" Naruto shouted, rubbing the back of his stinging hand. "You shouldn't hit people ya bastard!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at a point just over his shoulder as he finally sat up fully and ran a frustrated hand through his messy dark locks. Naruto could have sworn he heard Sasuke muttering something about 'timing' under his breath but he couldn't quite make out what he said.

"You're going to have to speak up Sasuke, I can't hear you." Naruto said as he cupped his hand to his ear and leaned in close to the Uchiha's face.

"What the fuck are you doing here Naruto?" he asked, pushing Naruto out of his personal space.

"I can't just come here to pay you a visit? What if I missed you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the cheesy words that slid off of his tongue and Naruto couldn't hide his own self-amusement. Leaning back on his haunches, Naruto rested his elbows on his knees and looked out at the backyard. It had been a month since he'd been back and the dark patch of soil in the middle of the yard was starting to sprout a few sprigs of green. They were small but noticeable on the dark backdrop, steadily growing into something more.

Whose idea had it been to put a garden there in the first place?

Sasuke certainly wasn't the type to take care of things so it had to be Hinata. The fact that he let her though was…astounding. Sasuke didn't _let_ anyone do anything, at least not without a fight. Did they have arguments? Hinata was so soft-spoken it was doubtful that she'd express any kind of complaint. While Sasuke was a lot harder than she was, he didn't express himself either. It was no small wonder that a house with the two of them in it was so…quiet.

Conversely, he found that the older he got the more silence perturbed him. It reminded him of his days when he had to shout to break up the quiet but there was no one around to hear him. When Sakura was home it was never quiet. When she was reading she'd mumble under her breath to herself when trying to understand concepts he didn't have the possibility of comprehending. She yelled at him. She laughed with him. She dragged him out of bed when he couldn't be bothered and reminded him of the miles-long list of things he needed to do that he forgot. Naruto frowned at the direction his thoughts were taking, his brow furrowing in frustration. She hadn't been home lately…well not his home anyway. Her home was not his home.

"You're awfully quiet. Did you come here to stare at me?" Sasuke asked, his monotonous voice breaking the silence. Naruto blinked, his thoughts of Sakura momentarily moving to the back of his mind. He'd almost forgotten about the whole reason he'd come in the first place!

"Actually Kakashi-sensei sent me to check up on you!"

Sasuke scoffed at the notion as he propped his forearm on his knee.

"Why would he need an idiot like you to check up on me?"

"Hey! He's just worried about you and I'm not an idiot."

"Che. He's not worried about me. He's sent you here to check up on Hinata." Sasuke grunted.

"He cares about you too ya know!" Naruto defended but not as well as he would have liked to. He was more concerned about Hinata as well. "Since we are on the topic though, how are things?"

" _What_ things?"

"Ya know! _Things._ "

Sasuke continued to blankly stare at him, clearly unable to comprehend what he meant by 'things'. Kakashi shouldn't have sent him here to figure out what was going on. He really wasn't good at it. He should have sent someone like Sakura to question him but the medic-nin was in no position right now for such a task. Naruto let out a short, exasperated breath through his nose and decided just to rip the band-aid off and ask Sasuke what he needed to know outright.

"Have you and Hinata been getting along?"

" _This_ again." Sasuke snorted and ran a tired hand over his face. "Everyone here seems ready to think the worst of me."

"It's not like you've given us many reasons to think otherwise ya know."

"Che."

The corner of the Uchiha's lips twitched into an almost smirk which made Naruto's own smile spread wide. He scooted closer to his former teammate and began poking him in the cheek again.

"Soooo have you?" Naruto asked as he was able to get three pokes in before Sasuke smacked his hand away again.

"Have I what?"

"Been able to get along with Hinata!"

"Why do you want to know?" Sasuke asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"There's a lot of people that care about her-"

"People like you?"

"Yea people like me!" Naruto huffed defensively. "She's an important person to me and I won't let anyone hurt her! Not even you."

Of course, he cared about Hinata. He would be insane to not recognize the fact that he did. Blue eyes shifted towards the closed backdoor that Hinata had used, the memory of a few moments before flashing through his mind. He was reminded of the way her hair obstructed the pair from view and her name tumbling from a frustrated mouth. How would Sasuke have reacted if Hinata had successfully kissed him?

"Do you like Hinata?" Naruto asked, the question itself rolling around awkwardly on his tongue.

"Like?"

"Yea like, ya know 'like-like'."

" _Liking_ her has nothing to do with our situation." Sasuke replied, a hint of irritation in his tone. Despite his clear annoyance, Naruto was not entirely put out by the Uchiha's answer. It wasn't a no so that was good. It wasn't a yes either.

"It has everything to do with it! How is your marriage going to work if you don't at least like her." Naruto said.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his words but didn't reply. He didn't have to though. The way the tips of his ears turned red was enough of an answer. He grinned and shuffled even further into the Uchiha's personal space much to the man's chagrin.

"She's a really nice girl and she can cook really well too but I'm sure you know that fact by now. She's smart and kind and one of the most honest people I know. She's really loyal too!"

"Hn."

"She's also really pretty-"

At this Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes but Naruto was undeterred.

"I'm telling you the truth! Any guy would consider themselves lucky to marry a girl like her!"

"Why don't _you_ marry her then if she's so great!" Sasuke snapped and at that Naruto finally leaned back a bit.

At that moment, the back door slid open, breaking through the awkwardness to reveal the subject of their conversation. She stood before them carrying a tray laden with a pitcher of water and freshly cut fruit and vegetables. A faint blush was dusted across her cheeks as she made her way towards them to place the tray on the deck floor.

Beside him, Sasuke tensed at her approach, his back straightening slightly and his lips pressed together into a firm line. Naruto felt his stomach growl as soon as she knelt down to place the tray between them and at the sound, she let out a small giggle.

"I thought you might be hungry." She said softly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow curiously at the fact that there were so many little plates on her tray but didn't give voice to his concern. Instead, he watched her pile a plate high with slices of pineapples, watermelon, and apples. Naruto accepted the plate gratefully because he was in fact starving. As he eagerly dug into the fruit he continued to observe Hinata carefully place cut vegetables onto separate plates for Sasuke. One for sliced cucumbers, another for cherry tomatoes, and the last one containing a few apple slices. Carefully, she placed each plate in front of Sasuke at an easy distance for him to reach and then began to pour water for the both of them.

' _Why don't you marry her then if she's so great?'_

Hinata was great. She was more than great. She was…amazing. He didn't know too many people that would take such detailed care of his ungrateful teammate but here she was. He didn't know any woman who would still look a man in the eye after they'd silently rejected their confession…yet she still did. She was still looked at him with those trusting pale eyes as if he were infallible even though he very much was. She thought that _he_ was amazing even when he wasn't…

"I'll be inside if you two need me." Hinata said as she began to rise but a pale hand grabbed her wrist and impeded her departure.

Naruto was surprised at first by the contact, the way Sasuke held her wrist was as though he'd done it a thousand times before. Hinata didn't jump away from his touch either. She merely sat back down beside him, carefully tucking her legs beneath her. It was only when she was settled into a comfortable seated position that Sasuke let her go and picked up a plate of cucumbers to his right. Hinata began to grab an extra plate for herself off the tray and placed a few cubes of watermelon on it, pink lips upturned into a small smile.

The entire interaction was minute. If he'd have blinked he would have missed it but it was there. Pensively he chewed a slice of pineapple and tore his eyes away from them. He would definitely be able to go back to Kakashi with good news…or well _neutral_ news. No sense in getting that man's hopes up. Sasuke might not want to talk about the effect Hinata had on him, he might even deny any changes outright, but it was obvious to anyone that cared to look…even to someone as oblivious as an Uzumaki. Hinata was a good influence on him.

' _Why don't you marry her then if she's so great?'_

Moving on from pineapple to watermelon, he surreptitiously watched his two dark-haired companions out of the corner of his eye. He noted how Sasuke had positioned his body away from the edge of the deck and more towards where Hinata was seated only a few inches away. He watched how she slipped more cherry tomatoes onto his plate before it became empty and kept his glass from ever depleting further than halfway. She was gentle and kind and more than what either he or Sasuke deserved.

Naruto knew that he would never be able to return the depth of her feeling, not through a fault of her own but because of who he was. Because every time she spoke he wished it was a little bit louder. Every time she was patient with him in the past he wished that she hadn't been.

Each time her pale eyes looked upon him…he wished they were green…

 **…...**

Sasuke frowned as he felt a pillow wall being erected next to him. She'd done this the last two nights in a row and he was afraid it was becoming a habit. Why was she doing this? Was it because of what happened when she was in the bathroom the other day? Without his permission, the sound of her voice as she moaned filled his ears and an uncomfortable heat began to quell within him. Her normally soft voice had been filled with an emotion utterly foreign to him but somehow sounded right. At the time he'd wanted to hear more…he'd wanted to see how loud she could get. However, those moans had morphed into a scream, the memory of which immediately made him squeeze his eyes shut and roll over onto his side. Hinata was, of course, oblivious to his internal strife and added another pillow. Sasuke growled at her ignorance and tried to block out her presence but that only allowed a certain irritating blonde to worm his way in.

' _Do you like Hinata?'_

No. He most certainly did not like Hinata. She was tolerable at best. She was better than any of the other women he'd encountered because she at least knew when to give him space. She'd yet to completely figure out when he wanted her around though…

… _.'She's back.' Sasuke thought as he listened intently to the shuffling of bags inside of the house._

 _He'd been trying to meditate since she'd been gone but found the endeavor to be fruitless. No matter how hard he tried he wasn't able to clear his mind the way he needed to. Other things he'd rather not think about kept creeping into his mind._

 _Sasuke frowned and lazily placed an arm over his eyes in an effort to block out the sun. The heat from which was beginning to give him a headache but he couldn't find the motivation to move. Perhaps if he just laid still he'd be burned to a crisp. He didn't mind that outcome too much. When he died he'd probably go to hell but that was unsurprising. As he continued to enjoy wallowing in his own morbid thoughts, the subtle creaking of the back deck alerted him to the fact that Hinata was no longer inside of the house. The smell of lavender and vanilla came with her and a small sound that sounded almost like a giggle. The Uchiha remained still as she approached him. Did she want to tell him something? If so she would just have to wait until he body decided on its own to rise. Until then he was not going to get up. Perhaps if he just played dead she would go away- Soft fingers caressed his overheated skin with such a gentleness that all thoughts of anything else flew from his mind._

 _She was touching him…_

 _Why? Why was she doing this? After acting as if he had the plague why was she touching him so gently? He could feel tendril of her hair tickle his chest as she leaned closer to him, her smell growing strong with each inch of distance that disappeared. He tried to dredge up his usual feelings of disgust but found his mind unable to comply when she touched him in this way. He couldn't lose control in this way. Not to this woman. Not to her…_

" _Hinata." He said, forcing his eyes to open even though he wanted them to remain close…_

 _Even though he wanted her to continue…_

…. Sasuke felt his frown deepen at the memory, his irritation mounting within himself. This didn't mean he 'liked' her.

' _Yea like, ya know 'like like!'_

He especially didn't 'like like' her…whatever the hell that meant. Naruto was an idiot so what did that make him for allowing his words to infiltrate his mind? An even bigger idiot…perhaps. Still, regardless of Naruto's stupid probing he still didn't appreciate her putting this godforsaken pillow barrier up! Growling, he rolled over onto his other side and proceeded to destroy the wall that the woman had carefully erected.

"Sa-Sasuke!" she gasped in surprise at his destruction.

"It's too hot." He grunted and closed his eyes as he flopped onto his stomach, hoping that that would be the end of their discussion.

"But…" she started but paused, clearly unsure of how to proceed. "I…I'll go sleep in the other room."

Sasuke's eyes immediately popped open at that proposition and before he could think through his actions he'd grabbed her wrist to keep her from moving off of the bed. The little bit of resistance she puts up only spurs him further and causes him to move so that he knew he was over her. He pulled the wrist he was holding above her head and she let out a small squeak. Whether it was in surprise or disgust he wasn't quite sure.

"Are you so disgusted by me that you can no longer share a bed?" he asked, the words emerging before he had a chance to stop them. He felt Hinata stiffen beneath him at his words and he felt a small sense of satisfaction to cause such a reaction in her. Even if she was repulsed by him, he enjoyed having this tiny bit of control over her emotions.

"Do you think I will hurt you?" he asked, his grip tightening on his wrist as he was reminded of Kakashi and Naruto's constant vigilance. He relished the way she fidgeted beneath him. The heat radiating from her body was worse than being surrounded by obtrusive pillows but he didn't mind it. In fact…if he were being honest…he enjoyed it. Much too soon, Hinata stopped her squirming and lay perfectly still beneath him.

"I…I am not afraid of you." She said and her voice caused him to stiffen. "I just don't know what to do."

What to do? What does she think she's _supposed_ to do? He certainly didn't know. All he knew was that the heat radiating off of her was growing and he wanted to see how much higher he could get it.

' _She's really pretty ya know! Any guy would be lucky to marry her!'_

At that thought, Sasuke let go of Hinata's wrist as if it burned him and rolled over to put ample distance between himself and her body. This woman was going to be the death of him.

"Sasuke?" she asked, her voice hesitant and distant. The man in question frowned, squeezing his eyes closed in an effort to keep the effects of her voice at bay.

' _Do you like Hinata?'_

No. No, he didn't.

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming a Family Affair**


	19. Becoming a Family Affair

**CCNote:** **Hey hey! Look at that we reached 1K! Because of your support, I'm burning the midnight oil to get this out to you (not really this chapter practically wrote itself lol). My goal for this story is actually 2K so let's see if we can make it happen. There's** _ **maybe**_ **10 chapters left so who knows! Here's to pipe dreams!**

 ** _Important timeline question_! This story began at the very tail end of spring. We are now in the dog days of summer and ALMOST about to enter fall. I hope that clears up any time confusions.**

 **As we roll smoothly into the final arc of this story please stick with me to the end! I hope you continue to enjoy this story and don't** **forget to review even if it's just to say ya love meh! Ignore all mistakes and as always, REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Family Affair**

"Report." Kakashi asked as soon as he stepped through the gates of the Uchiha district. His Anbu operatives, ever vigilant and at the ready, had already been alerted to his visit and had been waiting patiently for him to arrive.

"It's um….well…" A muffled voice started and Kakashi looked at the second operative to get a sense as to why the first was so nervous. They merely shrugged and jabbed a thumb over their shoulder in the direction of the house.

"It's better for you to look for yourself, sir." The Anbu said. Interest now peeked, Kakashi followed the two to the roof of the house.

From there he was able to see what exactly made them so uncomfortable and he'd be hard-pressed to disagree with their assessment. In the middle of the yard was Hinata, sweet innocent Hinata, was sitting on top of Sasuke with his arm twisted behind his back and his face in the dirt.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as he watched Hinata get off of him and put some distance between them. Sasuke did not allow her much time to leave before he was charging at her full force again, this time he was successful in sweeping her off of her feet and kicking her into the dirt.

"They've been like this all morning." The operative answered. "Yesterday's morning shift had mentioned something about a spar but we thought it to be a bit of a stretch."

While still on her back, Hinata was able to propel her lower half up enough to kick Sasuke in the gut and send him stumbling back.

"Do you think we should stop them, sir?"

"If something happens to Hinata the Hyuuga will-"

Kakashi held up a hand to silence his operatives and turned away from the spar that had devolved into little more than a grapple in the dirt.

"Why don't you two take off early? Night shift will keep watch when their shift starts like normal." He said, dismounting from the roof to head back to the gate.

"But sir!" one of the operatives protested but Kakashi paid them no mind.

The purpose of the Anbu watch was to not only keep Sasuke in the village but also to make sure that Hinata was protected. It was clear to him that she was able to protect herself well enough on her own with Sasuke still in a limited capacity. Plus Sasuke clearly wasn't thinking about running away if he cared enough to spend time training with someone that wasn't him. Either way, he was sure that the two of them would prefer to continue their activities with less of an audience.

Kakashi grinned to himself as he recalled a very similar storyline from one of his favorite books and proceeded to make his way off of the Uchiha property. If Naruto's news from yesterday held any water, the Uchiha and Hyuuga would be heading down the same track very soon. This was very good news indeed.

 **…..**

Sasuke huffed as he pulled his sweat-soaked shirt over his head and slung it to a random spot as far away from him as he could get. Being without it didn't provide him with much relief but he did feel a tad bit better. Silently he laid back into the grass, ignoring the way it made his skin itch, and tried his best to regulate his breathing.

"You did really well Sasuke." Hinata said breathlessly as she took a seat somewhere near him. "You will be back to top condition in only a few months after your chakra is completely unblocked."

"A few months?" he grumbled.

He hadn't given much thought to how his condition would be after his eyesight returned but a few more months of remaining in this weakened state was not ideal.

"Well your sight will return gradually but the use of your kekkegenkai may take longer a lot to adjust to. There will be headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, and your body will have to readjust to concentrating the massive amounts of chakra within you especially to your occipital lobe. It will take some getting used to but I think you will be able to do it."

"If it's going to take more training then why are we stopping now?" he grunted as he tried to sit up, ignoring the way his muscles screamed in protest. His discomfort must have shown on his face because a small hand shot out to his shoulder and gently pushed him back into the grass.

"You can't tire yourself out too much. If you do, your body may reject the reintroduction of your pathways and you could do irreversible damage. Rest is just as important as training!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes but complied with her command. She was lucky that he was currently too tired to put up a decent a fight. In any case, Hinata was not someone to speak so much nor did she try to impose her will upon him. If she said that he shouldn't push himself the way he wanted to…he probably shouldn't. It was a bit unsettling to hear her speak to him this way. She was getting much too comfortable around him and at times reminded him of his…

"Mother." He mumbled and Hinata shifted slightly next to him.

"Sasuke?" she asked, her gentle voice blending in seamlessly with the scent of lavender and vanilla and grass and sweat and dirt.

He dug his fingers gently into the soil as the wind brushed against the hair that stubbornly stuck to his forehead. If he laid very still it almost felt like he was a child again, waiting for his brother to return from training. Waiting for his father to come home. Waiting for his mother to scoop him up and bring him back inside.

"Do you miss them… your family?" Hinata asked and Sasuke blinked.

Did he miss his family? Maybe…at times. He didn't like thinking about his family…his clan. The warm memories cut just as deep as the cold ones.

"I don't know." He said finally, the confession sounded hollow but he knew it to be the truth. He honestly didn't know anymore. "Most days I don't think about them and I'm…alright with that."

"Hmmm. I…I see. Were you just thinking about your mother though? I-I-I'm sorry I don't mean to assume!"

Sasuke smirked at how flustered she sounded and placed an arm over his eyes.

"I was. You remind me of her."

"I-I do?"

"Hn. You smell like her. It's really… annoying."

Instead of feeling insulted by him, that rare peal of laughter escaped from her lips and intertwined itself with the rustling of leaves overhead. Sasuke frowned at the reaction. He didn't get what was so funny but her laugh wasn't loud or annoying and she hadn't laughed in front of him in a while. For now, he would allow it.

"You frown like my father." Hinata said, her voice light and full of amusement.

"I am nothing like Hiashi." Sasuke scoffed but the way Hinata held back her giggles let him know that she thought differently.

Stupid woman.

"You're lucky." Hinata said after she'd finally gotten herself together. "You still remember little things about your mother."

What the hell did a sheltered soon to be ex-heiress know about being lucky? Perhaps everything since her lot in life was to be born with a silver spoon in her mouth and her clan intact.

Stupid woman.

"Most of them aren't good things."

"Yes…I…I know…Good or bad it's still _something_ and there is value in a memory. I wish I could remember my mother."

Sasuke felt his annoyance at her words slip away just a bit…

"What happened to your mother?" he asked, quickly catching himself and adding "Not that I care."

He could almost swear he could hear the Hyuuga woman grin. He really didn't care. However, if she didn't continue talking he would drift further into his own memories and that was the last thing he wished for. If it made her happy that he asked then that was her prerogative because he really didn't care.

"She passed away when I was about eight years old, right after she had my little sister Hanabi. Do you remember meeting her?" she asked and Sasuke grunted. How could he not remember such a rude little thing? She'd left quite the impression. "I remember being so excited to be a big sister. I couldn't wait to meet the baby -boy or girl. Then my father came home with a red-faced bundle that never stopped crying but my mother wasn't with him. I…I'm sure Neji would have remembered that day better than I do but all I remember feeling was lonely and maybe even a little sad."  
"Do you resent her?"

"Who? Hanabi or my mother?"

"Both…either…"

Hinata sighed and shifted in the grass so that she now laid beside him. He could feel the heat that radiated off of her arm. If he shifted just a bit he would be able to touch her. It was tempting but he wouldn't.

"For a long time, I was very sad about my mother's passing. It felt like when she died so to did all of my father's affection. Time went by and now I can't even remember what she looked like or what she smelled like. I can't remember her hugs or how it sounded when she said my name. I don't resent her for dying, she had no control over that but I do miss her."

How could you miss something you don't remember?

"Still, she did give us Hanabi and I love my sister more than I love myself. I don't think I could ever come to resent her."

A short silence fell between them, nothing but the sound of wind and the flapping of the crows disturbed them. It was strange hearing this woman speak of a love so strong that she would do anything for it. That was a level of emotion he knew that he was not capable of. Itachi had been but look where that had landed him…alone in a dead district. If their roles had been switched would he have been able to make the same decision? It wasn't a hard question to answer because he knew it to be a no.

Sasuke turned his head in the direction of where Hinata lay and stared out into the darkness. If this woman loved Hanabi as much as she said she did, how far would she go to protect her? Was she truly as selfish as his brother? Was she willing to give up her own happiness for someone else? Was she…was she doing that now?

"Are you doing this for her? I'm sure she could take your place in the contract if you wanted?" he asked flatly and Hinata let out a small sigh.

"I have many reasons for going through with this. Hanabi is one of them."

Sasuke grunted and moved his arm off of his face.

"You are willing to marry me and be unhappy because of your sister." He grunted and Hinata shifted to sit upright, her shadow momentarily blocking out the heat from the sun.

"Sasuke…I'm not unhappy." She said. The genuine sincerity in her voice surprised him but he couldn't help the reflex jab that escaped him.

"Then you are even more stupid than I thought."

"Maybe I am." Hinata said, a mild hint of amusement in her voice. "Are you unhappy?"

Sasuke frowned a bit at her question. Was he unhappy? He paused for a moment, expecting his usual malaise of disdain and reproach for his current situation to arise but it never did. Instead, all he felt was nothing. He tried to harness the negativity he knew was there but all he could bring up was a mild annoyance at the inconveniences he was faced with.

He didn't even mind knowing that he was being watched around the clock since the Anbu were relatively unobtrusive. Kakashi was annoying but a few days of his absence had him wondering when the man would return. Again not that he cared but he was still curious. Being blind was also an impediment but he'd gotten used to it. The small world that Hinata had created for him within the house provided most of what he wanted. It was a cushy prison but a prison all the same.

Still…the thought of going back into the house was not unappealing.

He needed a shower and he knew that when he turned the faucet on the water would be hot. Whatever Hinata made for lunch would be palatable although he would never tell her he was looking forward to it. If he made enough grunts she would read to him and the days would repeat again on a loop. He wanted to hate it. When had he been lulled into a state of such monotony? A state of comfort and complacency. If he tried it might even bring him some semblance of pleasure. Maybe even satisfaction if he dared to be so foolish as to believe that he could obtain such a thing.

This was not supposed to be his life…and yet it was. From the rubble of the Uchiha district somehow an existence he was able to tolerate had been eeked out. Perhaps this was what Hinata had meant by starting anew. Perhaps. Did that mean he was happy? At this point in life, he had no idea what that word meant. However, he was not _unhappy._ As odd as it felt to feel absolutely nothing, for once it almost felt like a tentative peace. It was a peace he didn't deserve. Itachi had selfishly wished for peace. He'd wished for him to be happy and yet he didn't realize that he would no longer be capable of such a thing.

Stupid Itachi.

Beside him, a soft snore reached his ears alerting him to the fact that he'd taken too long to answer. He hadn't even realized that the Hyuuga woman had laid back down again. Was she really so comfortable as to fall asleep out in the open like this? He felt his lips twitch slightly as he closed his own eyes and allowed his tired muscles to sink even further into the ground.

Stupid wom- No….

Stupid Hinata.

 **… _.._**

"Oi, I was going to eat that dammit!" Naruto cried out, leaning his body over the table to try to grab the last octopus-shaped hotdog from between Sasuke's chopsticks.

"This is my house isn't it?" Sasuke asked flatly as he held his prize lazily and rested his chin on top of his knuckles.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"This is my food isn't it?"

"Saaassssuuuukkkkkeeee I'm hungry."

"Not my problem."

Hinata shook her head as she watched the two of them bicker back and forth. Every afternoon this week had consisted more or less of Naruto and Sasuke fighting like small children. It was entertaining to an extent but watching them up close called into question whether Sasuke even liked the blonde. Shino and Kiba fought with each other sometimes but never as much as these two. There were more laughs than punches between her own male teammates. With the men of team seven, the laughs equaled out to the insults and the physical assaults outnumbered them both. Sasuke was an important person to Naruto but sometimes she wondered why when the man had a clear disdain for him. Perhaps the future leader of Konoha was a masochist?

Pale eyes jumped between the two men and their verbal jabs before a kick under the table sent Naruto's chair toppling backward. Luckily Naruto's reflexes were fast enough that he didn't fall with the chair but it was a close call. The blonde opened his mouth to yell but Hinata had already risen to his feet before he had the chance to.

"Please refrain from kicking people under the table Uchiha-san." She said, her voice tight and even as he turned his head in her relative direction.

" _Uchiha-san_." He mumbled, dark brows knitting together in discomfort.

"Naruto has been by to visit every day this week. He might not come back if you continue to treat him poorly."

"Hina-chan-" Naruto started but Sasuke cut him off.

"Her name is Hinata." He snapped with a sharp glare before turning back to Hinata. His glare didn't soften when he turned to her either but she was immune to it at this point. "How I treat people is none of your business."

"You're supposed to be friends-"

" _We_ are not friends. This dumbass just won't leave me alone."

"Oi! I resent that!" Naruto interjected but his words fell on deaf ears.

Hinata looked down at her half eaten plate of food and bit her bottom lip. She didn't want to fight with Sasuke. Things had been going so well lately. Awkward but good all the same. She didn't want to mess that up. With that thought in mind she plucked the three octopus-shaped hot dogs off of her plate and placed two on Naruto's plate and one on Sasuke's so that the men now had an even amount. Once she was divested of them she rose to begin clearing the table of their dirty dishes but Sasuke caught her wrist.

"What did you do?" he asked, his voice tight and slightly angry.

Hinata shook her head and tried to pull away but his grip was firm.

"Hey! It's just hot dogs! I'm fine Hina-chan-"

"Her name is _Hinata_." Sasuke snapped. "Hinata. What did you do?"

"I…I just split what I had to make it even. I'm not that hungry."

She wasn't. She'd made such a big dinner that the mini hotdogs she had on her plate were likely to end up in the trash. Sasuke, on the other hand, did not appear to approve of her actions. His lips pressed together into a familiar dark line as if contemplating something before he finally spoke.

"Here." He said gruffly depositing one of his hotdogs on Naruto's plate. He then grabbed the second one and held it out in her relative direction.

"Sasuke?" she asked, unsure of what he wanted but he continued to hold the offering out to her precariously balanced between his chopsticks.

What did he want from her? Did he want her to eat it? Hinata blushed at the thought of eating from something that he had. It wasn't proper but then again they already shared a bed and were getting married as soon as the leaves changed. She'd already had plenty of _less than proper_ thoughts. Hesitantly, Hinata gulped and leaned down far enough to eat the morsel of food he offered. When it was gone he turned away from her and crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest. She would have thought he was angry with her if it wasn't for the tips of his ears turning red. She turned away from him as well and pressed her hands against cheeks that felt as if they were on fire.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Hinata immediately jumped from her seat at the sound, grateful for its intrusion. Anything that would take her away from Naruto's gaping mouth and Sasuke embarrassed indifference was a welcome interruption. She quickly made her way around the table and through the living room to get to the front door. She activated her Byakugan just before she opened the door and was surprised to find her childhood protector standing on the other side of the door with a scroll in his hands. Hinata deactivated her kekkeigenkai and opened the door just as fist raised to knock a second time.

"Ko-san!" She smiled as she regarded her ever stoic clan member with a short bow. "Good evening!"

"Hiashi-sama and the elders request your presence tomorrow afternoon for the fitting." He said, returning her bow and holding the scroll he had out to her.

Hinata accepted the scroll and clutched it close to her chest. She'd nearly forgotten about all of the necessary preparations for the wedding.

"Thank you for bringing this. Sasuke and I will be there."

Ko craned his neck, not quite paying attention to her words. She knew what he was looking for. A house in disarray. An Uchiha cloistered off in some dark corner to brood. She didn't even have to turn around to know that the scene behind her presented the opposite. In a way, she felt proud to prove his assumptions wrong.

"Hinata-sama." Ko started, his eyes trailing over her head to back to her face. "Is everything going well?"

"Yes." She replied confidently without hesitation.

Ko seemed a bit taken aback by her directness but brushed it off and shoved his hands into his pockets. Her yes was affirmative enough that he didn't need to press further. Inwardly Hinata smiled at the tiny victory and bowed to Ko as he departed. She knew that he would go back with a report to the elders. He'd tell them what he'd seen and whatever impression he'd been able to glean. He'd tell them everything he knew and of course, that would be that she was fine.

She _was_ fine.

Hinata smiled as she waved to Ko's retreating back in the distance before lowering her hand and pressing her fingers to her lips. For the first time in a long time, she might actually be happy.

 **…..**

"We need another half meter of ribbon to hold it up."

"Kami she's gained so much weight-"

"Shhh don't say things like that out loud!"

Hanabi rolled her eyes as she made her way down the hall to the room where several female branch members were scurrying in and out of. There weren't many occasions for the Hyuuga compound to be all of a flurry activity so the buzz in the air was almost tangible. The soon to be heiress huffed as she rounded the corner to catch a glimpse of the room that held all of the activity. Inside it held a handful of branch members swathed in bolts of silks and ties and pins. Expert fingers tucked and tugged at her sister who stood in front of a floor length mirror.

Hinata looked quite elegant even though the kimono she was wearing was only stock fabric meant to help measure her size and shape. She could wear an empty rice sack and still make it look good. At times she'd been envious of the beauty that seemed to grace her older sister so naturally but she knew that her own natural abilities resided elsewhere. Hanabi leaned against the doorway and studied her sister from a distance. She still appeared the same as always and apparently was unharmed. Any news of abnormal bruises or cuts would have reached her ears by now just like the gossip on her weight.

'Which by the way,' Hanabi noted with an indignant snort. 'Is not much at all.'

She looked like a ghost the day she moved out of the compound. Looking back, it was evident that she'd kept the arrangement between her and the Uchiha a secret for quite some time. It was a secret that stole the color from her skin and the light from her eyes. A particularly strong gust of wind would have been sufficient enough to blow her away. Therefore, it was no small wonder that the day she'd left her she'd been so cold and matter of fact. So unlike the Hinata she knew. Standing before her now, she wasn't quite sure if she'd returned to her normal self. Sure she looked healthy but was she okay? Living on land that had once been bathed in blood was no place for her sister to reside.

"Hana-chan." Hinata called from her pedestal in front of the mirror. "It's okay to come in. We are almost finished."

"Almost finished? Ha!" an elderly woman quipped. "We still have another layer!"

Hanabi smirked as she watched Hinata's eyes grow wide with fear, the branch members approached her with yet another bolt of silk. She pushed off of her perch in the doorway and stepped into the room.

"Are you okay Hinata-nee-chan? You look a little overwhelmed." Hanabi teased and Hinata blushed furiously.

"I not overwhelmed…I just…I didn't expect it to be this much." She confessed.

Hanabi nodded her head. She hadn't expected it to be _this much_ either. The elders and Konoha's council had essentially taken all preparation into their own hands. All Hinata and that Uchiha had to do was essentially show up. That and suffer through a fitting. In that they were lucky. She'd seen the budget spreadsheets laid out on her father's desk and listened to the elders argue about everything from seating placements to linen cuffs. Hanabi hoped that her own wedding would be something much more low key and very far in the distant future. She knew that it was futile to wish such a thing since the moment Hinata gave birth to a child, the elders would set their sights on her to be next.

"I wonder if Sasuke is finished yet." Hinata mumbled to herself but Hanabi caught every word.

"You're worried about the Uchiha?" she asked, barely containing her surprise and loathing for the man. Fortunately, Hinata didn't catch on and merely nodded.

"He's not really used to people." She said and Hanabi rolled her eyes.

"So he's crazy. Great."

Hinata opened her mouth to reply her words never had a chance to fully form. A sharp spike in unfamiliar chakra caused all of the room's occupants to stiffen and their attention was drawn to the sound of stampeding footsteps just outside of their doors.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing." The head seamstress nervously chuckled and moved to continue her work on Hinata.

However, her older sister had already torn her eyes away from the mirror and gathered up the loose fabric of her kimono. All around her, the branch members protested as she stepped down from the pedestal. She was already shrugging off the layer of fabric that they'd yet to tie to her and was halfway out the door.

"Hinata-sama wait!"

"What are you doing?! We aren't finished!"

"Hinata!" Hanabi called after her, trying her best to follow her without stepping on the train of loose fabric that trailed behind her. "Hinata where are you going?!"

Hinata didn't even call over her shoulder to answer any of her questions nor the calls of the frustrated branch members. She was surprisingly fast despite being weighed down by so much silk, turning the sharp corners of the compound as if she'd never left in the first place.

"Hinata what's wrong?" Hanabi shouted but her calls were lost in the shouts of surprised branch members she nearly ran over and the irate seamstresses struggling to catch up.

She didn't stop until she reached the west wing and once there was met with a wall of guards. Hanabi's breath caught in her throat as she watched them separate for Hinata to enter. The guards were silent and it didn't sound like there had been much of a commotion but Hinata would not have freaked out for nothing. They would not be posted here without any reason. Squaring her shoulders, Hanabi squeezed through the crowd of people that had begun to congregate until she was able to find Ko. He stared sternly at the blank wall across from the room that Hinata had entered, back straight and jaw clenched.

"Ko what has happened?" she asked.

"An accident." He said flatly, divulging no more of the situation than he felt he needed to.

Hanabi's brow furrowed. That didn't make any sense. What kind of accident could have possibly caused this many guards to be posted outside of the door? It had to be because of that abnormal chakra spike from only a few moments of which the Uchiha could be the only culprit.

"Let me through." Hanabi commanded, pushing past Ko and through the line of guards to where her sister had disappeared.

The inside of the room was similar to the one Hinata had been using for her fitting. A floor length mirror and pedestal were placed in the middle of the room, however, the mirror had a giant crack in it. The shards of which sparkled in the late afternoon sun. The practice silks that were supposed to be used to dress him were strewn carelessly across the room. As she stepped closer she noticed droplets of blood on the silks that she knew would never come out.

The disarray of the room only held her attention for the briefest of moments before her eyes were drawn to the corner. There Hinata sat with her back against the wall and a seemingly unconscious Uchiha's head in her lap. She watched silently as her sister used her sleeve to wipe streaks of blood from his cheeks, uncaring that the fabric would be ruined. If whatever had transpired in this room had been the result of an 'accident', that was evidence enough that this marriage should not be allowed to continue. _Especially_ not with the Uchiha in his current capacity. Even if Hinata treated him as if he were merely a wounded bird she'd found in the garden it was clear that the man was unstable.

"Hanabi." A deep voice called from the doorway.

The young kunoichi turned around to see her father regarding the damaged room with an unreadable expression. For the first time in months, she was actually happy to see her father and more than willing to comply with his unspoken directive to leave. If this was not evidence enough that the Uchiha was unworthy of her sister she didn't know what would prove it. At the very least they needed an assurance that Hinata would remain safe when she finally took the last name Uchiha and broke away for good.

Assurances she knew, as much as she detested it, that only her clan could provide.

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming a Tradition II**


	20. Becoming a Tradition II

**CCNote** **: I didn't expect so many people to be sad that this story is reaching its final arc. I wish I could make this story longer but it just wouldn't feel right. Don't worry though. I'll be picking 'From Here' back up when this story is complete and I have one last long-form story idea. I'll talk more about THAT one later.**

 **This chapter takes place the evening before the fitting. Now I left a funny reference in this story that some of you may or not pick up on. It's anime (idk about manga) canon. If you forgot about it go look it up yourself. ;) Anyway, please enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming a Tradition II**

" _And with that, their love was sealed with true love's first kiss."_

 _Sasuke felt his left eye twitch at the longing in Hinata's voice and the small sigh that escaped her lips. She always got like this whenever she read him a romance story. It wasn't as bad as when she read something sad though. The last time one of her favorite characters had died, she ran off to the bathroom and cried for the better half of the evening. He'd put his foot down after that and sad stories were no longer allowed in the house. However, that left a dearth of romance. Silly, vapid, incomprehensible romance._

" _That was stupid." He grumbled and Hinata shifted to place the book on the nightstand._

" _How was it stupid? It was a very sweet story and it ended in true love's kiss-" she protested but he only rolled his eyes._

" _There is no such thing as 'true love's first kiss'."_

" _Yes, there is."_

" _No. There isn't. It's a lie people tell themselves to feel better for settling with whoever is convenient." He quipped._

" _That's not true!"_

" _And how would you know?" Sasuke asked and felt Hinata shift uncomfortably next to him. "A kiss is just a kiss. There is no deeper meaning to it."_

" _So…" she started tentatively. "If I kissed someone else you would not care?"_

 _Sasuke frowned and shrugged his shoulders. Past, present, or future, it didn't matter who she kissed. Not at all. It was just irksome that one of those people happened to be his forced upon best friend. Who, if he was being honest, he had also kissed. Twice. The Uchiha grimaced at the memories and shoved them aside. They weren't talking about him. They were talking about Hinata and it most certainly didn't matter who she kissed._

" _You have kissed many people then?" Hinata asked, putting a bit of distance between them as she began to build her nightly wall. "You never felt anything?"_

 _Instead of answering the woman's question, Sasuke grabbed the pillow she placed between them and tossed it over the side of the bed. He hadn't kissed many people. He'd been propositioned for much more than just kissing on several occasions but he'd turned them all down. Indulging in such frivolous pleasures was not something he'd allowed himself to engage in. Besides, he couldn't risk Uchiha bastards being manipulated and hunted down by power-hungry men. It didn't take much to turn a man into someone like Danzo._

" _You would not care if I kissed someone else." Sasuke said flatly._

" _Yes, I would." She replied defiantly, and although her voice was small it still caught him by surprise._

" _Why?"_

" _I…I don't know."_

" _Hn." Sasuke smirked, leaning closer to the nervous woman beside him. "Then have you finally decided that you would kiss a man like me?"_

 _He expected her to turn away from him or scurry out of his reach but she didn't. One of his hands slid from his own side to find where her hand laid in her in her lap. She didn't move. He followed up from the tips of her fingers to her wrist, up her forearm to her elbow, towards her shoulder to her neck. When he reached her neck she flinched harshly as if he'd burned her and it made him pause. Why would she have such a reaction to him touching her there? Had she gotten hurt during their spar earlier? He pressed his fingers against the side of her neck and she didn't flinch but he could feel her pulse thrumming rapidly beneath his fingertips._

" _You are afraid of me." He said simply as he drew away from her._

 _All of that talk of not being scared had just been a farce. In reality, she was just a frightened of him as everyone else, he was just too blind and complacent to see it. What kinds of faces of disgust did she make when he touched her? He pushed down a small tug of discomfort in his chest and started to shift away. He wasn't able to get far, however before a small hand grabbed his and brought it back up to her neck. The skin was warm and soft, her pulse beating wildly just below the surface._

" _You don't remember do you?" she asked as moved her hand from his own to his wrist._

 _Sasuke felt his brows furrow together at her words. What was he supposed to remember?_

" _I will get out of here and when I do, I'll be sure to kill you on the way out." Hinata said._

 _He attempted to pull away from her as those familiar words spilled from her lips but a firm grip on his wrist kept his hand on her neck. He remembered a version of himself saying that. He knew that he was more than capable of still carrying out that desire. This pulse, this intoxicating yet fearful heartbeat, was so vulnerable underneath his fingertips. If he were to just reach out with his other hand and squeeze, he knew that her heart rate would increase wildly before stopping for good. For some reason, it did not feel as though it was the first time he felt her heart flutter in fear. This heat, this softness. He'd felt it before right as he'd gain consciousness. Through the burning and the pain, he remembered this beat and the way he squeezed to make it stop. His fingers splayed out over the soft skin of her neck, his thumb carefully tracing the gentle curve of her jaw._

" _I remember." He said, his voice tight as the ghost of the electricity she'd shot through his body racked his brain. Hinata nodded and let go of his wrist._

" _Attempting to kill me was the very first thing you did when you woke up. It had caught me so off guard. If…if Sakura had not stepped in when she did you might have been successful. It took a few weeks before the bruises completely healed." Hinata confirmed. "I used to be afraid. I'm not anymore."_

 _Sasuke drew away from her, a deep frown marring his features. This woman was insane to admit in so few words that she trusted him. Yet was this not the best way for things to turn out? In a month's time she would return his sight and they would be married in accordance with the contract. She trusted him enough that it was unlikely he would have to kill her to escape. When he left she would be disgraced but that had no effect on him. Once he was through the gate…once he was gone…_

" _Why not? I'm not exactly harmless." Sasuke said, brushing aside thoughts that he was unable to complete.  
"I know." She replied simply._

 _How was it possible for one woman to be this stupid?_

" _I could still kill you."_

" _I know."_

" _Hyuuga-" he snapped, exasperated by her subtle stubbornness but found all further argument had died on his tongue when a pair of lips pressed against his own. It was a light brush but surprising all the same. When she pulled away he found himself wishing that it had been more._

 _"Hinata." She said breaking the spell her brief touch had put him under. "Please…please don't call me Hyuuga. Not like that."_

 _This woman…this ridiculous, trusting, soft woman. She was so stupid and was surely going to be the reason he lost more of his sanity than he already had. He was already holding onto his current mental capabilities by a thread, thread he hadn't realized that she was holding. This stupid, stupid woman._

" _You are an idiot Hinata. " he whispered, his hand reaching out to her neck before sliding up to tangle his fingers in her hair._

 _She sat still but compliant as he pulled her closer, allowing him to take his time in finding his way to her lips without assistance. That small gesture assuaged his ego unconsciously when at first his lips brushed against a spot near her nose. The second attempt landed near the corner of her lips before the third finally found its goal._

 _Her lips were soft and smooth just like the rest of her. The feeling of her pressed so innocently against him felt sweeter than anything he'd ever tasted but he didn't dislike it. Did everything about her taste this sweet? As much as he wanted to press for more he would relish the slow, trusting way she kissed him for now. Hesitantly, small hands clutched the front of his shirt and soft lips molded themselves perfectly against his own. Inwardly he chuckled at her shy showing of hunger, not opposed to obliging to indulge further._

 _Tightening his grip on her hair, he placed his other hand on her hip and pulled her closer until she wormed her way into his lap and was flush against him. When her breasts pressed against him, she gasped in surprise. Sasuke took advantage of her mouth being open to deepen the kiss, thoroughly enjoying how surprised she was. He'd never kissed anyone in this way before, he wasn't even sure if he was doing it right, but Hinata didn't pull away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed her own tongue to hesitantly meet his own. The feeling of her tongue exploring his mouth caused a delightful heat to rise within him and in the back of his mind, he wondered if he was finally going crazy. She broke away from him far too soon for his tastes. Of course, it was to breathe but he'd rather suffocate than give up this feeling._

 _Suffocating in this way was not a bad way to die. In fact he would prefer it._

" _Hinata." He growled._

 _That was all he managed to say before he claimed her lips again and delighted in the way she shivered against him._

 **….**

There weren't many words she would use to describe the Uchiha. The ones she would use were not of the variety that were considered polite in mixed company. The last thing she would ever say was that the man was vulnerable. Even in this state, unconscious and pale, the man was likely more protected now that he had been when he was awake. Hinata refused to allow anyone to touch him or move him to a room that was sprinkled with glass shards. Instead, she directed the staff to bring what she needed to the room and clean it up to make it useable.

Within a matter of minutes, the glass had been swept up and a futon was laid out for the Uchiha to rest on. Hanabi had watched unhelpfully from the corner as Hinata rolled him onto his side to place him on the thin mattress, all around her the branch members hovered in anticipation of what to do next. Once they'd fulfilled her orders, her sister had sent them all away must to their displeasure. Hanabi was pretty sure she was supposed to leave as well but she wouldn't.

Why was she so protective of this man anyway? She'd never seen her sister take such an authoritative tone before…

"Please hand me the basin of water and a rag." Hinata said, breaking the silence of the room.

Hanabi pushed off of the wall she'd been leaning on with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest.

"So now you notice me." She grumbled but swallowed all other insults when it was clear that Hinata wasn't actually listening.

Begrudgingly, she picked up the bucket of cool water that the branch members had left and tossed the rag folded next to it into its depths. She then brought the items to Hinata who didn't even look up at her approach. Instead, she blindly placed her hand into the water and rang the excess out of the rag. Hanabi rolled her eyes at how gently she wiped away the perspiration that had accumulated on the Uchiha's brow. The affection that she displayed was enough to make her want to vomit.

"Why are you so worried about him?" Hanabi asked and Hinata finally looked up at her for the first time in what felt like hours. "Don't tell me you _want_ to marry this guy?"

Hinata tore her eyes away from Hanabi when the Uchiha made a small grunt. For a moment, both women held their breath in anticipation to see if he would wake up but he didn't. Hanabi felt relieved that his eyes didn't open but it was clear that her sister did not share that sentiment. She watched as Hinata placed her hands on either side of his head, her byakugan activated- wait she was- no!

Hanabi immediately fell to her knees and grabbed one of Hinata's wrists to keep her from completing her task.

"Hanabi-" Hinata snapped. "Let go."

"NO!"

"Hana-"

"You can't! You can't give him back his sight yet!" Hanabi protested, tightening her grip on Hinata's wrist. "You can't be foolish enough to think he'll stick around to fulfill his end of the contract to marry you once he has his sight back?"

Hinata jerked her wrist away and stared at her with wide eyes as if she hadn't thought about that outcome. How could she think that the Uchiha would be trustworthy enough to go forth with a deal he had nothing to gain from? If she was in his position she would only stick around long enough to get her eyes back. Contract or no contract, self-preservation was of the utmost importance. If Hinata hadn't thought about this outcome by now it was about damn time she did.

"Nee-chan." Hanabi started, kneeling down next to her sister whose eyes followed her every move. No matter how much Hinata had grown to care for this man she had to understand just how dangerous it was to give him his sight back, let alone marry him."The elders are going to publically announce me as heiress tomorrow. While you've been away I've already started preparing under father. If you give him back his sight now, he _will_ leave you and you will be disgraced. You'll be made a branch member since you won't be joining another clan and have to take the seal. Hinata please think about this."

She had to listen to reason. Her sister was one of the smartest people she knew. She had to understand that this entire arrangement would be her downfall in the end. Hanabi placed a gentle hand over Hinata's, hoping desperately that she understood everything she was trying to convey.

"It doesn't have to be that way though. You can cancel the contract on the grounds that he is an unfit partner. Father would never force you or me to marry a man that we were genuinely afraid would harm us. I will step down and you can be heiress the way you were meant to be-"

"Hanabi-"

"Please just listen to me!" Hanabi snapped, uncaring if her volume made her sister's eyes glassy. She had to understand! "You are all alone there in the Uchiha district with a man that has killed more people than you or I ever will. He will never grow to care about you and you will only end up getting hurt in the end. If you cancel this marriage things can back to how they were before. You can come and live here again. You could even marry Naruto one day. Just forget about him!"

When all of her words had tumbled out and there was nothing left to say, Hanabi was only able to take a single shaky breath before warm arms enveloped her in a warm hug.

"This has been difficult for you hasn't it?" Hinata said as she gently patted her back. "I know what Sasuke is capable of Hanabi. I have no illusions of otherwise."

Hanabi felt her shoulders begin to shake as soon as Hinata let her go. A cold sense of dread flushed through her body as she watched her sister smile and placed her hands on either side of the Uchiha's head. Small veins bulged at her temples and chakra began to pool into her palms, sealing her fate and gently unclogging the remaining build up in the Uchiha's system.

"Hana. " she said without looking up from her task. "Thank you for worrying about me."

 **….**

" _Hinata-sama." Two gravelly voices chorused respectfully in unison. "Uh…um. Uchiha…san-sama."_

 _Sasuke rolled his eyes at their reluctant acknowledgment of his presence. He could almost feel their uncertainty radiating off of them in waves as they tried to figure out the proper way to address him. San. Sama. Traitor. What they decided to call him didn't matter. For all intents and purposes, he'd rather not be in a situation where his name crossed their lips at all. Beside him, Hinata squeezed his hand and led him forward, sparing a passing greeting to the Hyuuga guards._

" _Let's hurry up and get this over with." He grumbled under his breath. Hinata gave their intertwined fingers another squeeze as they slowly walked through the front courtyard of the compound._

 _"I can't promise that it will be fast." She said, her voice light and slightly amused. "My clan is not known to rush and it is traditional for the bride to have several fittings instead of just one. They will likely want us to stay for dinner too."_

" _I'm not hungry."_

 _Hinata muffled a giggle behind her free hand but Sasuke felt his upper lip curl at the prospect of staying for dinner. The last time he was here he didn't eat a bite. He didn't plan on starting now. Besides, he didn't want anything they made. They wouldn't separate his food the way he preferred and that little sister of hers would probably spit in it before his plate reached the table. He wouldn't even be able to retaliate either because that would likely make Hinata unhappy. Not that he cared but Kakashi's words of 'happy wife, happy life' kept him from entertaining his vengeful daydreams against the girl._

" _You should try to eat at least one bite of something." Hinata said._

 _Sasuke pressed his lips together into a tight line. Would him eating whatever mystery dish- something that may or may not have been tampered with- these people served him make Hinata happy? He still wasn't quite sure what made this woman happy. All he knew was that she wasn't unhappy._

" _Would that make you happy?" he asked and Hinata stopped their forward progression. He felt her body turn to face him with what he could only assume to be a confused expression. He frowned and ran his free hand through his hair. He wasn't very good with words._

" _Would you…be…happy if I ate." He said through a jaw that was much tighter than it needed to be. Why was this so fucking difficult?_

 _Hinata didn't reply to his question. Instead, her feet shuffled closer to him as she tugged a bit at his hand._

" _Hinata-" he started but whatever he might have said was cut off by a sharp tug and her lips pressing against his._

' _I could only assume that means yes.' Sasuke thought to himself, releasing her hand from his own._

 _When Hinata pulled away from him, in what he could only assume was surprise, he grabbed her upper arms and pressed her close. After all of the 'practice' from the night before it was not so difficult to find her lips. A small sense of pride welled within him when he was able to capture her slightly agape mouth on his very first attempt. His effort was rewarded with the Hyuuga women kissing him back shyly. If making her happy meant more kisses he wouldn't mind making more attempts…_

" _Hinata-sama!" a tiny female voice squeaked in surprise and the woman in question immediately pushed him away._

" _Oh! Hiromi-" Hinata replied breathlessly._

" _I-I-I'm sorry to interrupt!"_

 _She most definitely should be sorry._

" _No, no it's okay! I wasn't thinking."_

 _No, it was not okay._

" _Please, um, follow me. I'm so sorry!"_

 _Sasuke swallowed whatever retort he wanted to say to their intruder and allowed Hinata to grab his hand again. He didn't appreciate the interruption but he was sure there would be more moments like before later. When they returned to the Uchiha district he would have her all to himself. At that point, he could figure out what exactly made this strange woman happy and of course reap the reward. All he had to do was get through this asinine fitting._

 **….**

When he awoke he found that opening his eyes was more of a struggle than it should have been. His entire body felt similar to the times he'd pushed himself to the point of no return, fully accepting the fact that he was on the cusp of death. Yet instead of feeling replete of chakra, his veins felt as if they were buzzing. He'd become used to being damn near a civilian and now he had too much chakra coursing through him, chakra that was his own but not quite. There was something else mixed in with it that felt familiar but he couldn't quite put a word to it. Pushing through the pain, he opened his eyes and was greeted with a familiar darkness.

" Good. You're finally awake." A female voice sneered, alerting him to the fact that he was not alone. "I was getting sick of watching you sleep."

Sasuke closed his eyes again at the sound of the voice. It sounded like she was yelling but he knew that she wasn't. Why did he feel like he'd been trampled by an angry mob? He took a deep breath and tried his best to push all thoughts of discomfort out of his mind so that he could focus. He had to in the Hyuuga compound but _where_ he was within its walls was a mystery. The woman watching over him was not Hinata. If he focused hard enough he would have been able to place who the voice belonged to but his brain was refusing to cooperate.

"Hinata." He said, his throat slightly sore and foreign. "Where is Hinata?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know." The voice sneered.

Sasuke felt his upper lip curl at his current companions uncooperativeness. He did not need this kind of backtalk right now. He was in a vulnerable position as much as he hated to admit it. He needed Hinata and the fact that she was nowhere to be found filled him with a mild sense of alarm. Grunting, he tried his best to sit upright but a not so gentle hand pushed him back down.

"After that little stunt you pulled earlier I hope you don't think you can just get up and walk away?"

Stunt? What stunt? The last thing he remembered was the feeling of his head exploding.

"Where is Hinata?" he growled.

"Why do you care? You've already gotten what you wanted."

What was she talking about? How the hell would she know what he wanted? Suddenly there was a slight click and the darkness he'd once been surrounded by turned from pitch black to a muted dark gray. His breath hitched in his throat at the shift, unable to hide his surprise. He sat up, despite the change in position causing him to become nauseous, and looked around the room. He still couldn't tell where he was but there were eery monochromatic outlines of everything.

There wasn't much detail, however, after being surrounded by darkness for months on end it was a rather refreshing sight. Sight. He could see. If he could see that had to mean that Hinata had to be somewhere near. Where was she now? Why did she leave?

"Lay down before you stress yourself out and ruin everything." His companion quipped and pushed his weakened body back down onto his futon.

He didn't put up much of a resistance to her. Hinata had already told him that if he pushed himself too much then he could cause damage that would be irreversible. The last thing he wanted to be was permanently blind. Speaking of which, where was Hinata? Why wasn't she here with him? Why couldn't he remember anything? What the hell was going on?

"You're still not relaxing. I swear to fucking Kami if you make this a waste of Hinata-nee-chan's time and effort I will kill you myself!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his companion and the memory of a spitfire returned to him as soon as a grey blob entered his vision. Hyuuga Hanabi. The girl who proclaimed so boldly that he was unworthy of her sister. How fucking convenient.

"Where is Hinata?" he asked and the girl scoffed.

"You sure do have a one-track mind." She said, shifting over the tatami to sit near the edge of his futon. Sasuke winced at the sound. Why did everything sound so painfully loud? "If I tell you where she is will you be still?"

Sasuke paused and blinked up into the warped field of grey that now encompassed his vision. He would comply with the girl…for now. Beside him, Hanabi snorted and shifted uncomfortably.

"Right now Hinata is speaking with the elders to fix _your_ mistake. You'll be lucky if they don't decide to wash their hands of you and leave you at the mercy of the council. I for one hope that they do."

 ** _To be continued_ … ****Becoming Enamoured**


	21. Becoming Enanamoured

**CCNote:** **You want longer chapters? Ask and you shall receive (sometimes lol)! In reality today was a test day so I didn't have shit else to do and had to look busy.**

 **The reference from the last chapter was about Sasuke's first two kisses. I always found it funny that Naruto and Sasuke ended up in those kinds of accidental situations. If you need a reminder, the** _ **first**_ **kiss happened when they were being assigned to their genin team and the** _ **second**_ **was while they were on a mission and their hands got stuck together (super fillery episode lol). ANYWAY, Sasuke's sight is returning and the best way to describe it is as a glasses wearer that is borderline blind. You can see shapes and colors, but distinct details are impossible and you sure as hell can't read and shouldn't be driving lol.**

 **ANYWAY! Thanks for all of the favorites/follows and of course the reviews! You guys are truly awesome and I'm always super happy to have people read my work. I especially enjoy the predictions of how this story will end. If you are familiar with my work, then you know the pace always picks up around this point in the story. I hope you enjoy this as well as you did the last and don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Enamoured**

Hinata swallowed thickly as she sat rigidly with her legs tucked underneath her. On cushions before her sat her father and the elders of her clan, all stone face and tensed in light of what had occurred that afternoon.

"Ko." Her father said sharply to the older man situated just inside of the dojo room door, his head bowed in respect. "Please step forward and inform the elders of what happened with the Uchiha to the best of your ability."

"Yes, Hiashi-sama." Ko replied as he stepped forward to the center of the room.

When he reached her side, Hinata looked up at him, hoping that somehow she would be able to understand the thoughts that were surely racing inside of his mind. Unfortunately, even though her eyes could see through walls and flesh she was still unable to read a person's thoughts. If she had she would have stopped Ko from uttering a word…

…" _Please raise your right arm…I-I-I mean yo-your left! Your left please! My mistake!"_

 _Ko pressed his lips together into a tight line as the head seamstress made yet another error in trying to direct the Uchiha with his body placement. The woman was old but talented and well respected among their ranks. She'd handsewn every kimono worn within the main branch since she'd taken over the mantle of head seamstress when her father died. There was honor in making clothing as beautiful as she was able to craft._

 _It was an honor that should not be bestowed upon someone as ungrateful as the Uchiha. Each time the woman made a directional mistake, the man grew stiffer and more ominous. His dangerous and rather irritated aura appeared to roll off of him in waves and made everyone from the seamstresses' team to the guards impossibly tense. If this was how he behaved around them, how did he act when he was behind closed doors? If he set complete strangers on edge he could only imagine how he treated Hinata._

' _Hinata-sama.' He thought, his nails biting into the fleshy part of his palm. 'She should not be anywhere near the likes of him.'_

 _She may say that she is okay but he knew otherwise. This was a political marriage. Whether she was truly okay or not she would see it through to its completion. That had been the way she'd been raised. Seeing things to the very end was the way of their clan. He knew this better than anyone and yet it still didn't sit right with him that she had to do this._

 _If Hinata didn't marry the traitor then it would fall to Hanabi but in his opinion, neither sister should be exposed to such a fate. No one should be tied to a murderer such as him. He was a threat to the village's security. If it wasn't for that contract the council would have disposed of him already. Suddenly a sharp intake of breath broke through his thoughts and his eyes snapped up to see the elderly seamstress get her hand smacked away. All at once, the younger seamstresses froze in place and the guards in the room immediately circled the Uchiha. A thin stream of blood trickled out from just under the Uchiha's left sleeve. He watched as the man slowly used his free hand to touch the blood that had been drawn. Beside the Uchiha, the seamstress hesitantly approached him again._

" _I-I'm sorry it was just a slip. Please let me have a-a look-" she started and reached out to grab the Uchiha's sleeve but he smacked her hand away again._

 _In the next instant, the guards in the room tightened the circle around the Uchiha who of course felt threatened by their encroachment, crouched slightly as if preparing for battle. His unwounded hand immediately went to his side where his infamous katana usually resided but fortunately was in the hands of the Hokage. Blind or not, if the Uchiha had a weapon they would have all been in danger. Unfortunately, even though he was currently unarmed he was still threat. As the guard stationed behind the Uchiha placed a hand on his shoulder, he rammed an elbow into his stomach and sent him to his knees._

" _Dammit." Ko cursed under his breath as he rushed forward._

 _There was not enough space in this small room for a fight and this was the last thing he'd wanted to deal with today. One of the other guards was able to reach the Uchiha before he did but as soon as he touched the man, the Uchiha spun around and punched him squarely in the jaw. A sharp sensation of chakra shot through the room, causing the seamstresses to drop what they were holding in order to flee._

 _Ko launched himself forward and tackled the Uchiha into the mirror behind him, pinning him against the shattered glass with his forearm. Once subdued, the last guard was able to reach the necessary chakra point in the Uchiha's neck to force him into a state of unconsciousness. It couldn't have come too soon either because his dark eyes had just shifted to a menacing, dichromatic red and purple…._

"After that, we stood posted around the door to keep him from escaping. That was when Hinata-sama arrived." Ko finished.

Hinata frowned as her former protector finished his explanation. Sasuke should not have been so abrasive with the seamstress but the guards in the room should not have been so rough with him. The situation shouldn't have escalated to the point that it had.

"And what is your opinion of this situation Ko?" her father asked and the man beside her stiffened.

"I believe him to be a danger to himself and others. I believe that he will cause harm if left unchecked."

'No!' Hinata thought, biting her lower lip to keep her words from escaping. 'He is not like that!'

Hinata looked away from Ko and up to her father. His eyes were just as unreadable as when he'd come to Sasuke's fitting room right after the incident. He hadn't said a word then. He'd only visually assessed the situation before taking his leave of the room. What was he thinking now? What did he make of Ko's words?

"Thank you. You are dismissed." Her father said with a slight nod of his head.

Ko bowed respectfully to her father and the elders before taking his leave of the room.

"As you can see Hiashi-sama, this is not as easy the Hokage believed it would be." Houzu mused. As the eldest and most authoritative figure outside of her father his words held a lot of weight. "If we wish to proceed with should continue with how the plan was supposed to happen initially."

'Plan?' Hinata thought, pale eyes widening. 'What plan?'

"Hiashi-sama has already tried. The Hokage refused to agree to those terms." Another elder groused and Houzu leaned back pensively in his chair.

"Perhaps when he is informed of what has transpired he will change his mind. If he wants to keep the Uchiha alive he has to be kept under control."

"We could always find a suitable match for Hinata via someone from a prominent clan in another village. We would do well to go about this swiftly so that we may move on to finding someone for Hanabi. The Hokage and council cannot find fault with us negating the contract on the grounds that the Uchiha is unstable."

Hinata stiffened at the elders as they continued to debate back and forth. All of their arguments held the same thread no matter which way they tried to spin it. They wanted to control Sasuke and within her clan, there was only one true method to keep someone in line. Hinata closed her eyes at the revelation and took a deep breath. The branch seal. It was the only way to bring someone like Sasuke to heel.

"Hinata." Her father said, his fingers folded in front of him and his jaw tight. "What do you make of this situation."

"I-" she started but Houzu and the other elders immediately cut her off.

"The Uchiha needs boundaries Hiashi. The longer we debate this the greater chance there is that he could wake up and go on a rampage."

"Houzu is right. He could wake up at any moment and then what? We told you decades ago when this was drafted that it was a bad idea. The Uchiha are a violent clan."

"This is true! Mixing bloodlines may prove to be more of a liability than it's worth!"

"We can't risk him losing control again within the compound."

"He needs to be put on a tighter leash."

"He is not a _dog_!" Hinata shouted over the voices of the bickering elders.

She then stood up, her heart pounding violently against her chest with the disapproving eyes of her elders staring up at her. There were two things one never did when in the presence of the elders. Elevate themselves to stand taller than they did was one. Raising one's voice was another. In one fell swoop, she'd knocked over both of these symbols of respect and subservience to those who were older than wiser than she was. It scared her immensely to do so but she couldn't sit by and allow them to speak about Sasuke as if he was little more than an animal they were deciding to keep or not.

"What happened today…" she started, lowering her voice to a more even level than before. "What happened today was unfortunate. Sasuke was wrong to lash out but he was only trying to defend himself. He's not used to being around so many people like this."

"That is exactly why he needs to be kept under control or done away with altogether. What is the point of protecting him from the council if he'll harm us all in the end?" Houzu asked. "If we put the seal on him we will be able to step in."

"You can't do that."

She couldn't allow this to happen. That seal had clipped Neji's wings. She would not have the same happen to Sasuke.

"You say that now but who will take responsibility for the Uchiha's action if he lashes out again? Who make sure that he doesn't behave in such a manner that would threaten our very existence?"

Hinata bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists at her sides. Sasuke had a past. She could not deny the fact that he had a lot of blood on his hands. She couldn't deny that he had demons that still plagued every step he took. However, Uchiha Sasuke was more than his past transgressions. He was more than the tough exterior that he'd shown to the world.

She'd seen that herself the day she found him sitting angrily in his destroyed hospital room as she dragged his stiff body across the floor.

She'd seen it the day she'd had to coax him out of the woods in a downpour.

He was _hurt._

He was hurt and crying out for help but each time he did he found himself trapped and angry. Fixing that was not possible through a seal or confinement. Little by little he'd been making progress with getting accustomed to a life that didn't require him to kill or be killed. He was becoming more and more like the man he would be if people like elders and the council hadn't stepped in and tried to control things. All of that progress would be wiped away if they branded him with the seal. She couldn't let that happen, she just couldn't! Taking a deep breath, Hinata stared pointedly into the eyes of each and every elder.

"I will take responsibility for him. I swear that Sasuke will not harm our clan or the village." She said firmly and Houzu narrowed his eyes.

"On what do you swear with? Your honor? Your life? It's not like you taking the branch seal in his stead would be any sort of deterrent for a man like him-" Houzu sneered amidst the others mummers but her father silenced them all with a wave of his hand.

"Would you be willing to take the seal Hinata? Would you be willing to put your life on the line to accept whatever punishment may befall you from Sasuke's future transgressions?"

Hinata felt her eyes soften as she looked at her father, the use of Sasuke's name striking a cord in her heart. He did not see him as an animal the way the rest of the elders did. That in itself was a good sign. Placing her hand over her heart, she slowly nodded her acceptance to her father.

"If that is what it will take for you to trust me when I say that he will not harm anyone that is not a direct threat."

"Not a direct threat?" Houzu managed to sneer before her father fixed him with a stern glare. Unfazed by his disdain, Hinata squared her shoulders.

"It is impossible to expect anyone not to defend themselves should the need arise Houzu-sama."

The other elders mumbled to themselves, some angry others intrigued. Her father rising to his feet silenced them all as he made his way towards her. His face was still as unreadable as always but she stood firm before him. She meant what she'd said. She would take the seal if that was what it took for them to trust her. If that would satisfy them enough to spare Sasuke.

"I will come to a decision on what to do about the Uchiha and your marriage. When I do, I will send someone to summon you both."

Hinata lowered her eyes to her feet and nodded, praying all the while that her father would not take long to decide.

 **..…**

"Hana-chan?" Hinata called out before stepping into the dark room but was not given a response.

Slightly worried, she entered but found her mild fears to be assuaged as soon as she spotted her sister fast asleep in a corner of the room still facing the door. She had a kunai loosely clutched in her hand but of course it wasn't of much use to her since she was unconscious. Hinata smiled to herself and went over to shake the poor girl awake to relieve her of 'guard' duty. Despite her little sister's disapproval of her fiancé, she could trust no one else in the clan with watching over Sasuke while he was incapacitated. Hanabi loved her more than she hated Sasuke. Gently, she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and gave her a little shake.

"Hana, time for bed." She whispered and the girl mumbled incoherently but stood up anyway.

With eyes only partially open, Hanabi slowly shuffled through the room and out the door. Once she'd disappeared, Hinata activated her byakugan to watch her walk through the compound back to where she belonged. It was against the rules to use one's byakugan within the confines of the compound, privacy was already scarce as it was, but she wanted to make sure that Hanabi safely got into her bed.

When she was satisfied that her sister had made it back okay, she moved to sit beside the unconscious Uchiha whose chest continued to rise and fall steadily. Carefully, she placed a hand on his forehead and another on her own to compare the temperature. She sighed when she discovered that he wasn't running a fever from the reintroduction of his pathways and the mixing of her own chakra to bridge the gaps. Despite the stress that the guards had caused him, he was going to be okay.

' _Would you take the seal for him?'_

Yes. Yes, she would. There were many things that she'd yet to discover about this man, so many things that he'd yet to even understand about himself. She couldn't allow the tiny bits of levity that he'd allowed himself to have over the last few months be squashed.

' _He will never grow to care for you!'_

Hinata ran a hand through her hair before bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. Perhaps he would never come to care for her the way others would recognize as such. When his family was slaughtered a part of his heart had been removed. In order to avenge their deaths, more pieces had been shattered. When he killed his brother, the last few remaining pieces had all but disappeared. Fragments still remained though. Tiny slivers of compassion that she had to collect to give back to him, not because she wanted them for herself but because he needed them.

She enjoyed the satisfied look on his face after a long day of training and cherished the peace he had when he slept. It was amusing watching his face scrunch up in consternation when he didn't understand something or the befuddled look he had when on the rare occasion she surprised him. Hinata pressed her fingers to her lips as she recalled the split second he'd allowed himself to be honest the moment after she'd kissed him for the first time.

He'd been so taken aback by the action that she was afraid that he felt disgusted by her. However, when he kissed her again she discovered for the first time what it felt like to be desired by someone else. To be desired. To be needed. To feel important. Sasuke didn't realize it but he fulfilled those things every day and it…it made her happy. When she first signed the contract she'd never expected to be happy with her situation.

Resigned to her fate and duty? Yes.

Happy? Most definitely not.

No matter what, as selfish as it sounded, she had to protect this small world that she'd carved out for herself. Sighing, Hinata laid down next to Sasuke how she did every night- sans pillow barrier- and allowed herself to cuddle into his side and listen to the steadiness of his heartbeat. Tomorrow she would need to send a message to the hospital to have Sakura come to check on him to make sure he was okay to move back to the Uchiha district. It would be jarring for him to regain sight in an unfamiliar location such as the Hyuuga compound. At least when they were home he would be surrounded in an environment he already knew.

'Home.' Hinata thought as her eyelids grew heavy. 'Tomorrow we will go home.'

 **...…**

"Alright you're good to go. NEXT!" Sakura shouted, handing the middle-aged jounin before her his medical file.

When he accepted it, she waved him out of the examination room and got ready for the next person. As she waited patiently for her next arrival, she rolled her shoulders and tried to ignore the petulant grumbling of her stomach. She had half a banana for breakfast which wasn't exactly a balanced meal but it was all she could scarf down before she was needed to pick up the slack in the nonemergency wing.

She couldn't complain about how busy she was though. She preferred being busy to being alone with her thoughts and anything was better than scrapping bedpans. Plus she liked seeing the smug look of feigned indifference on Tsunade's face when she was able to finish the mountain's worth of paperwork the woman liked to assign her. Sure it took all night to complete most nights but the look on her sensei's face was worth it. Sakura sighed as she lazily spun around in her chair, balancing her clipboard in her lap. It was only a matter of time before Tsunade had to admit she could have her old job back. That day honestly couldn't come soon enough but for now... she was content.

"Goddammit Sai it's not your turn!" a muffled voice cursed just outside of the hospital room door.

"Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

"W-w-well I-"

"I guess not. I will go first Fatty."

Sakura felt her eye twitch at the sound of her socially awkward teammate pushing past the protests of who was really supposed to be next and letting himself in.

"Ah. Ugly. It's you." Sai said as he poked his head into the door. Sakura waved hesitantly at him and he walked in like he owned the place. The confidence he exuded was even more creepy than normal.

'Ino is not a good influence.' She thought and accepted the folder Sai had in his possession.

Just as she took it Chouji, the person who was _really_ supposed to be next, barged into the room. He was followed silently by Shino who had his folder tucked under his arm. The sight of him reminded her of Hinata but she pushed the feeling down to continue with her work. The hospital was more important than her personal life.

"I have had to deal with your shit this entire time! Fatty this, Fatso that! Well, we're back and I'm not letting you get away with walking all over me -"

"You are fat are you not?"

"Why you!"

"Sakura-san." Shino said flatly as he pointedly ignored his comrades arguing to hand her his folder.

"Shino-kun" Sakura greeted, glancing warily at the two shinobi behind him. "You were the squad leader yes?"

Shino nodded and adjusted his glasses. At that confirmation, Sakura flipped open his folder and checked over the information filled out by a lower ranked nurse to make sure that everything was as it should be. Blood pressure was normal. Weight was fine.

"You seem angry."

"Of course I'm angry! What else would you expect me to be?!"

"Fat."

Blood had been draw and results would likely be in by the end of the week. Everything looked to be in order.

"Did you or anyone else sustain any serious injury during the mission?" She asked and Shino shook his head.

'Good.' Sakura thought. 'The faster she could get these three out the better.'

"Alright! Listen up!" Sakura shouted, clapping her hands together twice to get the arguing shinobi's attention. "Sai. Apologize to Chouji."

Sai blinked and cocked his head to the side.

"Why?"

"Because it's rude to call people fat."

"But he is."

Sakura frowned, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood up from her chair.

"I have too much stuff to do today Sai. Either apologize to him or I'll tell Ino." She said and Sai cocked his head to the side.

"Tell Ino what?"

Sakura merely shrugged in response. Unwilling to face the potential wrath of his girlfriend, Sai mumbled a half-hearted apology to her former teammate. Chouji didn't exactly accept but it was better than nothing. Once that was completed, she took their folders and proceeded to work through them quickly so that they would get out of the room. The three of them together was a causing a headache to form. As soon as she returned Chouji's chart to him, the three men left together and she was allowed a small moment of peace. She took a deep breath and looked at her watch. It was almost time for lunch…

"Sakura-chan!" a boisterous voice called from the hospital room doorway, causing the medic to nearly jump out of her skin. She pressed a hand over her erratic heart as soon as its owner popped his head into the doorway.

"Naruto you idiot!" she shouted. "You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!"

"I just wanted to pay you a visit!"

"This is a hospital, not a playground!"

"Yea. Yea. Yea." Naruto chuckled as he shoved his hands into his pockets and waltzed into the room.

Sakura shook her head at his nonchalance. He really needed to act more serious if he wanted to be the Hokage one day.

"What brings you here today? Don't tell me you got hurt doing something stupid either. I won't heal you if you did."

"Now when have you known me to do anything stupid?"

Naruto grinned at her innocently, wiggling his eyebrows as if that would help to further convey his argument. It took everything in her to keep a straight face but somehow she managed. When he was unable to make her laugh, Naruto pouted and leaned against the paper lined hospital bed.

"You're no fun today Sakura-chan." He sighed and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I can't afford to be 'fun'. I've got a lot of work to do today."

"Ah but that's where you're wrong." He grinned, childishly kicking his legs back and forth. "I convinced Baa-chan to let you have a break today-"

" _Naruto-"_

"She said, 'I don't care just get the hell out of my office!' so I guess that means you can take the afternoon off."

"I can't just take the afternoon off Naruto." She sighed, ignoring the angry growl of her stomach.

As much as she'd like to, doing something like that just didn't sit right. What about all of the work that was still left to do? Frowning, Naruto hopped off the bed, strode over to remove both of her hands from her lap, and pulled her up to her feet.

"We haven't hung out in like forever." He pouted as he intertwined their fingers together. "There's no one to fight with or have fun with and I'm pretty sure Kakashi is going to line up another mission for me soon."

When he pulled out his best pleading face, Sakura couldn't help but laugh. He almost looked constipated when he did that but it was cute in a weird way. She didn't want to admit it but she _had_ missed spending time with him. Staying with her parents was nice but she couldn't talk to them the way she could talk to this idiot.

"Please Sakura-chan."

One afternoon couldn't hurt, right?

"Oh, al-" she started but was interrupted by one of the other nurse's frantically opening the hospital room door.

"Sakura-san! The Hyuuga have sent a messenger-"

Sakura's brow furrowed and she broke away from Naruto who'd also grown tense. She chanced a glance at him from the corner of her eye and was unsurprised to find that his previous playful attitude had vanished and in its place was a man ready to take on anything.

"The Hyuuga?" She asked, tearing her gaze away from Naruto. The nurse nodded. "What happened?"

"They didn't give any details but the messenger says that Hinata has sent for you personally. I-I think it's serious!"

 **...** **…**

"Don't do that! You'll wake him up!"

He just needed a few more minutes of sleep.

"Well doesn't he need to be awake for you to do your glowie thingie?"

Why was the universe hell-bent on denying him that?

"For the last time, it's not called a 'glowie' thingie!"

Sasuke groaned, giving up on the futility of sleep and opened his eyes much to his body's protest. For a moment his eyes burned, not as bad as when he'd first opened them but it still hurt. He squinted against the bright, disorienting light. After becoming used to months of darkness it was odd to see anything but. Squinting his eyes, he blinked up at a fuzzy pale ceiling and wondered when the pain would subside.

"Hey look he's up!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Two bright, and obnoxiously loud, people entered his line of vision. Their faces and features remained fuzzy but he knew there was no mistaking who that candy-colored hair and bright blonde belonged to. He squeezed his eyes closed. Even if they weren't yelling in his ears, the sight of them was giving him a massive headache.

"Don't go back to sleep yet-" Naruto shouted but a short squeal of pain let him know that Sakura had silenced him.

"Stop yelling!"

Inwardly Sasuke rolled his eyes. Didn't she know that her yelling was making things worse?

"Ooooo! Sakura-chan that really hurt!"

"Good it was meant to!"

"What are you two doing here?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth and closed eyes.

"Oh! The Hyuuga sent us to check on you!" Naruto said and Sasuke felt his brows knit together.

The Hyuuga sent them…what. Why? Suddenly the events from the night before flooded back to him. The pain of the needle pricking his skin. The momentary panic of the room's occupants closing in on him that led to an involuntary instinct to defend himself. His head felt like it was going to explode before he fell unconscious. Finally, he recalled waking up in the presence of Hinata's surly little sister who'd informed him that Hinata had given him back his sight.

Hinata…

Where was Hinata?

A mild surge of panic coursed through his brain as he realized that Hinata had not returned for him at all. Where was she? Those elders Hanabi had mentioned was she still talking to them? Why had she not come back? The Uchiha's eyes sprang open despite the pain and he sat up, ready to track her down by smell alone if he needed to-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruto protested as he placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and pushed him back down.

"Where is Hinata?" Sasuke asked, glaring at the fuzzy figures of his former teammates.

"She's just gone to the kitchen to get something to eat-" Sakura started.

"To the kitchen?"

"Yea. We brought you back here to your house. Hinata thought it would help you transition better if you were in a more familiar environment. By the way, you're fucking heavy ya know that? Stop eating so much."

"You're one to talk! You eat everything you get your hands on!"

Sasuke blinked, tuning out their bickering. He was back…home. For the first time since he'd ran away all those years ago he would be able to see his family's land. He knew that everything was gone. The buildings he knew that had fallen in on themselves were gone. Every piece of blood-soaked stone had been dug up and removed, this he knew from Hinata's guidance through the property when the demolition crew was finished. When she'd first told him of the completion he felt nothing.

Now…it was regret.

He couldn't form the words what he felt but there was a sense of loss. There was truly nothing left of the once proud Uchiha clan. He only had himself to blame for that. Sasuke sighed and ran a tired hand over his face, Sakura and Naruto still bickering incessantly overhead. What was he going to do now? He could see…kinda. He could leave. There was nothing left here for him and yet, the reality of leaving did not feel as freeing as his fantasies had been. Where would he go? What would he do? All he life he'd had some sort of a purpose. Whether it was to be as great as his older brother or to seek vengeance against him, he'd always had a path. Now he had nothing.

"Naruto…Sakura." A soft voice called from the other side of the room. "Lunch is ready."

'Hinata.' Sasuke thought as his body inexplicably froze in place.

"Aw, Hina-chan you didn't have to do that!" Naruto shouted much to the Uchiha's annoyance and shifted off the bed.

"It's the least I can do for your help."

The other side of his bed creaked as Sakura got off as well, following the excited Uzumaki out of the room and silently closing the door behind her. Soft footsteps hesitantly approached the bed they normally shared until she reached the edge and sat down. He wanted to open his eyes to see the woman who'd been a constant in his life for the past few months. This strange woman that reminded him of his mother and yet was so distinct in her own way that she frustrated him to no end.

Of course, since she was a Hyuuga he knew that she would possess her clan's signature eyes. As a small child, he'd found it scary that an entire clan looked as though they were blind but he was sure Hyuuga children felt the same about the Uchiha. It tended to be unsettling for outsiders to see eyes turn from black to blood in an instant. Outside of knowing what color her eyes were the rest of her features were an enigma.

"Sasuke." Hinata said, breaking him from his thoughts. "How…how are you feeling?"

Nervous. He felt inexplicably nervous.

"Are…are you hu-hungry? I-I can bring you something to eat."

She was nervous too.

Inwardly Sasuke chuckled. What in the world did she have to be nervous about? She wasn't the one who'd been blind for the last four months. He grunted as he sat up, ignoring the way his brain screamed at him to stop.

"I'm sorry…You probably want to rest. I'll just go-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as soon as he reached out to touch her shoulder. Eyes still closed, he ran his hand up her neck and tangled his fingers into her hair. Finding her mouth was easy, she was in too much shock to move away from him otherwise. As strange as it was, he enjoyed the reaction he was able to elicit from a simple kiss. He then pulled away from her and slowly opened his eyes. Her form was rigid in front of him.

She possessed skin that was as pale as his own and hair that was just as dark and impossibly long. It was far longer than he'd thought it had been. That explained why he always felt like he was being tickled whenever she was over him. Removing his hand from the back of her head, he combed his fingers down through hair that felt reminiscent of silk. It was almost fascinating to see the ink-like strands slip through his fingers. When he reached the end, he couldn't help himself from repeating the action again. A sense of relief filled him as he ran his fingers through her hair. He'd almost been afraid that she would have been blonde like Naruto. He shivered at the thought and continued to enjoy playing with her hair.

"Sasuke?" Hinata asked.

"You have dark hair." He said flatly as if that was enough to explain his actions.

"Is…is that bad?"

She sounded crestfallen by his statement and the fact that she was made him frustrated. Sure he wasn't good at giving compliments but how could she immediately jump to the worst conclusion? He had no way to express how he felt without making things worse so he did the only thing he could do.

He kissed her.

 **….**

Only twenty-four hours had passed since he'd gained some semblance of sight. He could now walk around on his own in clear areas with only a small degree of tripping. He didn't need Hinata to direct his chopsticks to what food was where. Even though everything looked like multicolored blobs, all he needed to know was what exactly he was eating and he could manage from there. Training had been fruitless since even a light walk left him breathless but for now, he was satisfied.

Now, he found it to be much for relaxing to sit and watch Hinata move about the house. Currently, she was hanging up their sheets to dry in the morning sun. Sasuke looked up, shading his sensitive eyes from the sun's bright rays to take in the expansive blue sky above. He liked the blue despite the fact that he could only take it in for a few moments before he developed a headache. Most of the things that he did nowadays gave him a headache. Most things were too loud or too bright or required more effort than his body was able to put out.

'However,' Sasuke thought as his eyes were drawn to black and lavender speck hanging sheets. 'Watching her is not so bad.'

As to be expected of someone raised in a strict clan, Hinata's movements were graceful. It was a subtle kind of grace that was gentle and smooth with every action. When she trained with her byakugan was his favorite time to watch her since to his blurred vision, it almost looked like she was dancing. He wasn't even irritated by the noises she usually made during training either. Watching her, being around her was…nice.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" a loud voice interjected. Of it belonged to an orange blob that made him want to rip his hair out.

"Don't you know how to knock?" he grumbled and Naruto laughed.

"If I knocked you wouldn't let me in."

"Hn."

Naruto was right. He most certainly wouldn't let him in. He wouldn't tell Hinata that someone was at the door either because if he did her attention would be divided. She would immediately shift into host mode and the person that benefitted the most would be Naruto. He knew that Hinata would treat anyone that crossed their threshold with the utmost care. It was just the fact that it was more often than not Naruto that did that irked him. Didn't he have something better to do with his time than to come bother him?

"What are you doing here Naruto?" he asked moodily. Why couldn't he have his peace?

"You sound like I'm interrupting something."

"That's because you are."

"You just want to keep staring at Hina-chan." Naruto teased as he plopped down on the deck next to him. He jostled into Sasuke's side, playfully jabbing his ribs with his elbow. "Admit it! Yoooooouuuuu like heeeeerrrrr."

"Shut up."

"She's pretty isn't she? I was right wasn't I!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes but didn't confirm or deny Naruto's claims. It wasn't that he was wrong and he certainly wasn't right. He just didn't know. It felt as if there was an annoying film over everything he looked at, making it impossible to make out more than the relative size, color, and shape of objects. It was annoying but day by day his vision was getting better.

"Have you told her that you like her yet?" Naruto asked and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you have to tell a girl that you like her. That's how it works!"

"Has it worked for you?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, not exactly-HEY! We aren't talking about me! This is about you!" He didn't hate Hinata the way he once did.

His ambitions of killing her had faded away before he'd been able to grasp a tighter hold on them. Plus it was hard to hate someone as gentle as she was. She was kind to a fault though. Sometimes he wished that she would kick Naruto out on his ass but that day would never come. Besides that, he knew that he enjoyed being around her whether it was just eating or reading. Or…as of late…kissing.

Sasuke felt the corner of his mouth twitch as his eyes were drawn back to Hinata putting up the laundry. He definitely enjoyed kissing her even though it had only occurred a handful of times. He wanted there to be more but Hinata was proving to be increasingly bashful now that he could 'see'. He didn't mind it too much, he enjoyed seeing her flustered. That didn't mean that he liked her though. That just meant that she was tolerable. Tolerable was good.

"Yoooooooo!" Naruto whined as he waved a hand in front of Sasuke's face. "Earth to Sasuke! Is anybody home?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke snapped, smacking the obnoxious appendage out of the way.

"You've been staring at Hinata for the longest. You're gonna creep her out if you keep doing that."

Sasuke snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. What the hell did this idiot know about women anyway? Hinata had been in love with him for a long time and he never made any moves to change their relationship to be more than just friends. If he had they wouldn't be in this arranged marriage to begin with…perhaps. If the massacre hadn't happened then they _would_ have gotten married-

"If you like a girl you have to tell her. Just looking at her all weird and shit is not going to be enough."

"I do not like her."

"Sure you don't. You've been following her around the house like a whipped puppy since _before_ you got your sight back."

A whipped…puppy?

"You don't even let me call her Hina-chan which is super not fair since I've been her friend for longer than you two have been 'engaged' or whatever."

Whipped?

"Annnnd whenever she speaks you actually look like you're listening. You never listen to me. Like now! You're still not listening dammit!"

He was not _whipped._

Sasuke watched as Hinata finished clipping the last of sheets up and stooped down to collect the basket filled with their detergent and clothespins. Slowly she approached the back deck and he couldn't help but stand and descend the deck stairs as she got closer. When she was close enough, he held his hand out to take the basket from her possession but she hesitated to give it to him.

"Sasuke," she started. "You don't have to."

The man in question rolled his eyes and kept his hand out anyway. He didn't have the strength to help wash today. Usually, he was the one on scrubbing duty so it irritated him to be regulated to the sidelines while Hinata had woken up just a little past dawn to begin. The least he could do was carry the damn basket back inside. Reluctantly she gave up the whicker object and his ego was soothed for time being.

"Sasuke." Hinata said just as he'd turned to head back up the deck stairs.

He looked at her blurry figure curiously as she didn't continue to speak but instead took a step closer to him and placed a small hand on his forearm. She then elevated herself onto the tips of her toes and stretched her body as far as she could to place a short kiss to the edge of his jaw.

"Thank you." She said softly as she lowered herself back to her usual height with a red face that almost seemed to glow.

Sasuke grunted but didn't comment on the fact that her entire face had changed colors. How could he when it felt like his own at caught on fire? Leaning against the deck railing at the top of the stairs, Naruto coughed conspicuously to remind him of his annoying presence.

"Oh, Na-Naruto!" Hinata stammered nervously. "I-I didn't know you were here!"

"Hina-chan you wound me!" Naruto whined dramatically and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "First Sasuke ignores me and now you too?"

"Um…I'm…sorry?"

"You can make it up to me though! What's for lunch?"

"You are not eating here." Sasuke growled as he glared at the obnoxious man at the top of the stairs.

"But Sasuke-"

"Go bother someone else."

"I'm not a bother dammit!"

"Hn."

Beside him, Hinata giggled and shook her head.

"I think it would be nice for Naruto to join us for lunch." She said softly and Sasuke felt his irritation at Naruto's presence increase.

However, if Hinata thought it would be 'nice' the dumbass could stay until he wore out his welcome with her. Or at least until his brain couldn't tolerate him a minute longer, whichever came first.

"Fine." He conceded and turned to walk up the stairs. Just as he passed Naruto, the blonde chuckled under his breath and grinned with his hands behind his head.

" _Whiiiiippppped."_

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming Accepted**


	22. Becoming Surrounded

**CCNote** **: I would have posted this last night, but I fell asleep lol. ANYWAY! Long chappie. Lots of perspectives. I added in this chapter because it's necessary for Becoming Accepted to make sense. Excuse all glaring mistakes, I'll go back and fix them later. In the meantime, please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Surrounded**

Sakura smiled as she checked off the last name for the nine through ten-year-old age group. The kids were so excited to begin their final year in the newly built academy before they would become full-fledged shinobi. The medic giggled at the memory of herself at that time. Overconfident, exuberant, and stubborn to a fault. That wasn't a bad thing necessarily. One had to be stubborn to make it as a shinobi. It took a stubborn heart for a shinobi to continue to find a reason to get up in the morning…

…. _"Aw man I'm starved! I don't know what Hinata made it sure smells delicious!" Naruto grinned, rubbing his hands together in anticipation as soon as the bedroom door closed._

" _Yea…" Sakura replied softly. Whatever Hinata had cooked for them would undoubtedly be good. It certainly wouldn't be like the things she burned on a regular basis._

" _Let's eat! Sakura?"_

" _You go on ahead. I…I think I left something in the room."_

 _That was a lie._

 _They both knew that she'd left nothing behind. All of her medical equipment was still sitting on the couch inside her bag. Naruto opened his mouth to say something but didn't give voice to whatever his thoughts were. He didn't have to. His concern was etched into every feature of his face but he swallowed his words and forced himself to smile. As she watched him retreat down the hallway, she pressed a hand over her erratically beating heart. She knew that she shouldn't. She knew that it would hurt. The look on Naruto's face was evidence enough that what she was doing would cause her nothing but harm but she had to see it for herself._

 _This…marriage, though it was arranged, was hurtling closer as each day passed by. It was a contract signed with ink and sealed with blood. Nothing outside of extenuating circumstances would be able to break it. She'd comforted herself with the idea that that was all it was. It was just a way to tie Sasuke to the village. A way to allow him the life of a free man instead of rotting in a cell somewhere. If all the council needed to keep him here was marriage why couldn't they have chosen her?_

 _Sakura shook her head and turned towards the door. Thinking like this helped no one, least of all herself. However, she just had to know. Was it really just ink and paper that tied Sasuke to Hinata? The fact that she was the first thing he wanted as soon as he woke up made her feel otherwise. Taking a deep breath, Sakura stiffened her resolve and cracked open the bedroom door wide enough to peep through. The two of them sat facing each other on the bed with Hinata's back thankfully to the door and Sasuke's eyes were closed._

" _Are…are you hungry? I-I can bring you something to eat."_

 _The air between them was awkward and tense as if neither one knew what to do. Perhaps she'd been right this whole time. Perhaps there really was nothing more between them than a contract._

" _I'm sorry…You probably want to rest I'll just go-"_

 _Whatever Hinata had been about to say to excuse herself from the room was silenced by Sasuke's lips against hers. Even though his eyes were closed, he was able to kiss her with a practiced air of a man who'd done it before. The kiss they shared was short and simple but the look within his eyes when he opened them told a different story. Therein resided an emotion she'd never seen there before. Sakura bit her bottom lip, unable to tear her eyes away from the pair. She knew what Sasuke looked like when he was angry._

 _When he was hurt…_

 _When he was struggling…_

 _When he was so frustrated with the world all he could do was work his body to the point of exhaustion…_

 _She'd seen many emotions flit across his pale features but not once had she ever seen him truly happy. Once upon a time, she'd fancied that she would be the person to give him that. He would be happy to know that she still loved him even after all these years. He'd be happy to see how much she'd grown and how much stronger she'd gotten as a kunoichi. She would be able to stand next to him proudly and he would be happy. If they got married surely they would have a happy life together. She would give him a child and his second goal of reviving his clan would be realized. Yet, as she watched Sasuke run his fingers through Hinata's hair, she knew that her chance to do those things was gone. Her chance to make him happy would never come._

" _Sasuke?" Hinata asked, confusion evident in her soft voice._

" _You have dark hair." He said._

" _Is…is that bad?"_

" _Sakura." Naruto whispered firmly, his warm breath tickling the shell of her ear. An exceedingly calloused and scarred hand came over her eyes and blotted out the sight of Sasuke going in for another kiss. "That's enough."_

 _When a strong arm wrapped around her waist to pull her away from the door, she didn't fight him or try to run. Hot tears she didn't realize she'd been holding back, silently fell down her cheeks. Even with Naruto's hand covering her eyes, she still saw it. She still saw the way he kissed her with a gentleness she'd never fathomed him to be capable of. She still saw the happiness he'd exuded the first time he laid eyes on a woman that was not her. Was there ever a chance that he could have looked at her like that? If she'd only tried harder would he have come to love her the way she did him?_

 _Why?_

 _Why couldn't it be her?_

 _She could give him a reason to stay in the village. She could love him enough to make up for the fact that he didn't feel the same. She was afraid though. Afraid that her love wouldn't be enough. Afraid of the boy who'd become a man that was nearly a stranger. That was okay. It was okay that he was unfamiliar to her. She'd changed as well and the prospect of learning about him again was a romantic notion in and of itself. Now all of that was gone. All of her hopes and dreams seeped out of her body as whispered words were shared between two people who were now meant to be together._

 _This_ _ **hurt**_ _._

 _Seeing them together hurt more than she could have ever imagined and yet she didn't regret looking. It was better to cut off an infected limb than to continue to allow it to fester with hopes of getting better. Taking a deep breath, Sakura removed Naruto's hand from her eyes and walked away from the bedroom door._

 _She had work to do…_

… Her heart tugged at the memory of the day before. She'd thought that throwing herself into work would be enough of a distraction and it did the trick for a time. However, when she awoke in the morning her heart still ached and her eyes longed for the relief that crying would give. Even now she wanted to cry. It would feel good to do so but she couldn't. She'd already shed too many tears over a man that never saw them. Shaking her head, Sakura turned to the blonde medic in-training next to her and handed her the completed clipboard.

"Alright, let's head back to the hospital." She said but the trainee only shook her head and pointed a nervous finger down the hall.

"A-a-actually Haruno-san," she began nervously. "We…We have a bit of a-a problem."

Sakura cocked her head to the side and blinked. A problem? This was only a routine documentation of academy students' health. Comprehensive body composition checks. Kekkegenkai evaluations. Standard vaccinations were to be administered and bloodwork drawn. With their parents guiding the kids through the process with the medics, it was supposed to be a light day for everyone involved. They did this every year before the war without incident so there shouldn't _be_ a problem. It was just her luck that in her first year leading this operation there would be a problem!

"What happened?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light and inviting so that she didn't give her already nervous trainee a heart attack.

"The um, the specials are pro-protesting."

Sakura closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Every day without fail one of the 'specials' managed to find a one-way ticket to the hospital. She had personally treated each one of them at least twice and they were quite the handful-growing up without parents tended to do that. Unfortunately, the other nurses were not good at handling them. She could only imagine what this 'protest' was all about. Whatever it was they needed to get it sorted out as soon as possible. There was a mountain of paperwork waiting for them to organize back at the hospital. With that thought in mind, she made her way down the hallway that her trainee had indicated and it didn't take long to locate the disturbance. The kids yelling inside of the classroom were a dead give away.

"What the hell…." Sakura mumbled under her breath as she opened the door.

There she found a scene of no less than five trainees huddled nervously in a corner while several female students formed a semicircle around a student curled up on the floor. Around the girls protecting the one on the floor, several male students were running amok with pilfered band-aids, bandages, and lollipops that were _supposed_ to be given out for a job well done. One kid took the opportunity of her opening the door to try to escape but Sakura was much too fast for him. She grabbed his color and hoisted him up into the air so that he was eye level with her. Just as she opened her mouth to reprimand him, a much louder voice boomed behind her.

"Oi!" they yelled and the pandemonium in the room immediately came to a standstill.

"Naruto!" the boy she was holding shouted excitedly.

Soon the room was filled with shouts of the blonde shinobi name and her cowering trainees shot her perplexed looks.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Sakura asked as she set the boy she was holding down and turned to face him. Naruto grinned and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"I went to the hospital to find you but Shizune-san said that you were stationed here for the day." He explained.

"Hey! Hey!" a boy covered in unnecessary bandages said as he tugged on Naruto's jacket. "Are you gonna show us how to make a shadow clone today?"

"Yea! You promised!"

"Yea! Yea! Yea!"

"Naruto." Sakura said, trying her best to be heard over the children's pleas. "We really need to get their check-ups done. Things a bit chaotic right now so-"

"Chaotic?" Naruto asked and his blue eyes finally spotted the confused trainees in the corner of the room. "Quiet down!"

The children finally stopped begging for jutsus and stared at Naruto with wide eyes. The blonde crossed his arms over his chest and stepped further into the room.

"You guys givin' these nice ladies a hard time?" he asked and the children sheepishly glanced at the people they'd been terrorizing. "I'll go get Anko-sensei to help out in here. Clearly, you guys aren't mature enough to be shinobi."

"Yes we are!" one of the boys shouts indignantly but Naruto shakes his head.

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, we are!"

"Then prove it."

The boys all glared at Naruto but quickly dropped their stolen medical supplies and scrambled to their seats. Naruto then pointed the girls to their seats and scooped up the curled up on the floor. The little girl buried her face in the blonde's jacket and sniffled as he whispered words of comfort. It was rather surprising to see the children take so well to him but then again he was just an overgrown kid himself. Once the kids were at a more manageable level, Sakura clapped her hands and turned to her trainees.

"Alright. Let's get started shall we?"

 **…..**

"There we go, buddy." Kiba cooed.

Carefully he placed the tiny pup next to an open nipple on his mother's belly, hoping that it would finally have a chance to root. Unfortunately, as soon as its mother sensed that it was close, she growled warningly. Frowning, Kiba scooped the pup up into his arms before any harm could come to it. It wasn't unusual for mothers to reject their pups especially when they were weak like this one. He couldn't even blame her for being testy as the other pups had voracious appetites and were nearly sucking her dry. There was no doubt that this brood would be a challenge overall.

"You don't make things easy do ya, buddy?" The brunette sighed as he eyed a sleepy Akamaru standing guard over his mate and their sleeping pups. Akamaru only gave him a weak grunt in response.

Walking past the group, he gave Akamaru a quick pat on the bed and took the pup into the kitchen where he already had bottles prepared. The pup was the tiniest of the five that had been born. They'd all feared that he wouldn't make it through the first night but somehow he managed. With any luck, he would develop well along with his packmates but that would require him surviving to the point that he opened his eyes. As he grabbed a bottle from the fridge, he set it on the counter and turned on the stove to get a pot of water hot enough to warm it. Slowly but surely the water came to an almost boil and at that point, he turned off the stove and placed the bottle inside of the pot. Impatiently, the pup whined against his chest.

"Hey! I'm working as fast as I can!" Kiba chided softly, chuckling to himself at how odd it was for him to talk to a pup that couldn't understand him yet.

"You're not working fast enough." A familiar voice said from the kitchen door. Whipping around, Kiba turned to see Shino lazily standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Kiba asked, happy but shocked to see how easily Shino had snuck in.

Shino merely shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a brown paper bag that made Kiba wrinkle his nose.

'Dog Treats? Really?' He thought. 'Fucking sellouts.'

"I'm sure you've heard the news." Shino said as he put his bag of treats back into his pocket. "It was rather surprising to see the scroll when I got back."

Kiba nodded. It still didn't feel real that Hinata was going to get married and to _Uchiha Sasuke_ of all people. His initial instinct after he'd read the scroll in full had been to go to the Hyuuga and demand that they reverse whatever plans they had to marry Hinata off. A man like that did not deserve someone like Hinata.

"Have you seen her?" Shino asked and Kiba shook his head. "I'm surprised. The old you would have hurtled in head first and demanded that the wedding should be canceled."

Rolling his eyes, Kiba removed the bottle from the water and tested the milk to make sure that it wasn't too hot. Once satisfied, he held the bottle up to the pup and pressed it against his lips until he got the clue to begin sucking.

"I wanted to see her but I've got my hands full here. " Kiba explained, his heart tugging guiltily at his own neglect. "Kurenai went over for a visit."

"Really?"

"Yea. She says Hinata is okay I guess." He said, his brows knitting closer together.

Kurenai hadn't given him too many details about her visit when she'd brought Mirai over. The fact that seemed nonplused by the situation soothed some of his worries but did not get rid of them altogether. How could she possibly be okay with marrying a traitor? She was likely doing it out of duty and that bothered him most of all. Hinata deserved to be _happy_ just as much as the rest of them.

"You're not in agreement that she is okay." Shino said, breaking the Inuzuka from his thoughts.

"It's just…" Kiba started, steading the bottle to keep the pup from drinking too quickly. "She's doing this out of duty. I know that it would be wrong to stand against the Hyuuga but I can't help but worry about her…"

"Are you jealous?"

Kiba snorted at the question and rolled his eyes but Shino did not buy his nonverbal excuse. Behind those dark shades, he knew that his former teammate was scrutinizing him carefully with a precision that was a bit unsettling. It was that focus that made them such a great team. Shino was their brain, he was their instinct, and Hinata was their eyes and…if he was being honest…their heart. His heart. There was so much he wanted to say. So much he hadn't said because he cared too much.

"I'm not jealous so stop looking at me like that." Kiba quipped. "I gave up a long time ago."

"You've never struck me as a quitter."

"Shove off it Shino."

"Alright." The man shrugged and turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going? You went through the trouble of sneaking in here just to leave?"

"I'm going to seek out more appropriate companionship. I do not find that I want to stay in the company of a quitter." Shino said and Kiba growled in response, causing the pup he had to whimper.

"I'm not a quitter you asshole."

"Could have fooled me. Don't bother trying to change my mind."

Frowning, Kiba removed the now finished bottle from the pup's mouth and followed Shino out of the kitchen. He then grabbed a stretchy grey sling from the couch and set the pup down so that he could tie the ends around his neck. He then placed the pup inside of the sling and tightened it so that it rested close to his heart. If he was going to leave the house it would be best to that the runt with him. The last thing he wanted was to return to find it injured.

"And where do you think you're going?" Shino asked flatly and Kiba rolled his eyes.

"You're going to see Hinata so let's just go already."

"Have you always been this pushy?"

"I've always gotten what I wanted haven't I?" Kiba retorted with a snort and gently stroked the pup against his chest.

'Well, _almost_ everything.'

 **….**

Kakashi sighed as he watched the Hyuuga messenger leave the room. Today had started off well enough. He'd gotten the majority of his most important documents signed and the missions list had been filled with capable shinobi ready to complete them. He didn't have any meeting for the afternoon so that left a large chunk of his day free to do as he pleased. What he would have preferred to do was kick back and take a well-derserved nap but alas it seemed as though the universe was against him. Has soon as his eyes had shut for longer than it took to blink, a Hyuuga messenger was ushered in with a grave look on their face. That look didn't change either when they left.

"Hokage-sama" Shikamaru said as he shuffled to the side to allow the Hyuuga messenger to get out the room and shut the door firmly behind him. "I take it that didn't go so well."

Kakashi rubbed a tired hand over his face and regarded the youngest of his advisors. Nara Shikamaru was lazy, yes, but he was hardly ever wrong. Perhaps he might be able to figure out was going on in his student's brain.

"Things did not go well at the Hyuuga compound yesterday." Kakashi started and Shikamaru slumped into one of the seats in front of his desk. "Apparently Sasuke had a bit of an outburst."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and frowned.

"Was anyone hurt?" he asked and Kakashi shook his head.

"According to the messenger the branch members that were attending him are shaken up a bit but no serious harm came to anyone."

"Then I can only assume they sent a messenger to inform you that the wedding is off?"

"Not officially."

"I'm sure the council will have something to say about this."

Kakashi groaned and slumped back in his chair. If word of the incident got back to the council they would not spare him a second time. No matter how minor the infraction. There was only so much he could do to protect the boy.

"Everything had been going well too, at least according to Naruto and the Anbu." The Hokage sighed and closed his eyes. "I'd seen it myself as well. I don't understand what triggered this to happen."

"It could have been a myriad of things. Uchiha Sasuke is not seen as the most stable shinobi among us."

This was true. Most people were distrustful of the Uchiha at best and he had not done much to clear up his reputation. Kakashi had heard the rumors from the villagers and the gossip among his wary ranks. The longer Sasuke stayed out of the public eye, the more the rumors would continue to grow. He needed to reintegrate himself back into civilian life. However, the fact that merely being around a larger number of people at once was enough of a trigger meant that Sasuke getting along with regular civilians would be a daunting task. It was something that could only be done if Sasuke _wanted_ to do it. The boy could get anything he wanted in life-that he had no doubt about.

How could he make Sasuke want to be apart of the village? How could he get people to trust him? It's not like the boy ventured out much to mingle with others to dispel the rumors that he had pointed teeth and a third eye… Frowning, Kakashi opened his eyes and stood up from his chair and Shikamaru silently followed suit. He wasn't going to get to the bottom of this problem sitting behind a desk. The first thing he needed to do was find Sasuke and see if he was stable after the Hyuuga incident. Then he could determine if Sasuke even _wanted_ to continue with the contract. He had no clue what to do from that point but hopefully, a plan would reveal itself.

Hopefully.

 **..…**

"Sasuke." Hinata started and the sleepy man in her lap grunted to let her know that he was listening. "Tomorrow…I want to visit Neji-nii-san."

Dark eyes cracked open and looked up at her skeptically.

"You wish to visit him?" he asked.

Hinata nodded her head slowly. It had been awhile since the last time she'd visited his grave. She needed to clean it and bring fresh offerings for him. Plus, she smiled and brushed a few dark locks off of Sasuke's forehead, she had a lot she needed to tell him. What would Neji think of Sasuke? He probably wouldn't like him too much but she wished that they were able to meet in real life. For now, she would happily settle for what she had.

'One day.' Hinata thought with a sniff, her heart aching slightly. 'A long long time from now, we will all meet again.'

"Are you crying? I did not say you could not go." Sasuke said, his voice cutting through her sentimental thoughts. "You can visit him. I will not stop you."

Hinata sniffed and rubbed her eyes free from unshed tears. If she didn't know any better she would have thought Sasuke was being a bit defensive. Why?

"Sasuke?" she started but the Uchiha was already lifting his head from her lap to sit upright.

"He is important to you so go visit him." He quipped.

Yes. There was no mistaking his defensiveness this time. Hinata scrutinized his hunched over back and air of nonchalance he tried to put on but she could tell that he was on edge. Why would he be defensive of her visiting Neji? He…he wasn't jealous, was he? Could a man like Uchiha Sasuke even feel jealousy? She doubted it. Hinata smiled to herself for such a silly thought and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Sasuke…um…will you come with me?" she asked and the Uchiha seemed to tense at the proposition. "I…I want to introduce you."

"Introduce me?"

Hinata nodded, a light blush dusting across her cheeks as she laid her hand over his in the grass. She wanted to properly show Neji the man that she was going to marry. This time she wouldn't be sad about it. She opened her mouth to say as much but the muffled sound of the doorbell ringing inside kept her from speaking. She glanced at Sasuke who also looked rather alarmed by the sound of it. No one except for the Hyuuga rang their doorbell. The Anbu came and went silently and had no use for the doorbell. Naruto and Kakashi always barged into the house as if it were their own…

Hinata felt her heart leap into the back of her throat. If it was someone from the Hyuuga that meant her father had come to a decision. Would today be the day she took the seal? She tried to swallow but found it to be nearly impossible. She hadn't even told Sasuke of the meeting with the elders yet. The doorbell rang again reminding her that it was rude to make people wait regardless of her own internal trepidation.

Squaring her shoulders, Hinata stood up from her spot in the grass and Sasuke stood up as to follow her like a looming shadow into the house. The doorbell rang two more times before they finally reached the front door and when they opened it, Hinata was surprised to find that it wasn't a branch member standing on the other side. Instead, she found her sensei struggling to keep her daughter from ringing the doorbell a third time.

"Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata said and the red-eyed woman stopped wrestling with her daughter to look up.

"Good morning!" Kurenai greeted while Mirai ran up to Sasuke and threw her little arms around one of his legs. "Sorry, we're here so early. I promised Mirai that if she was on her best behavior at the hospital yesterday she could go wherever she wanted today. She chose to visit the man with the pretty hair."

Hinata smiled and turned her head to see a rather put out looking Uchiha who's hair was overdue for another trim. She could see why Mirai would think that his hair was pretty.

"Please come in!" Hinata giggled and stepped aside to let her former sensei into the house.

Sasuke moved away from his usual station as her shadow to find refuge on the couch. Unfortunately for him, Mirai followed and she had an entire bookbag full of toys that she wanted to share. It didn't matter that her audience was an unresponsive hostage of one. She was content to show him all of her toys in _great_ detail.

"So?" Kurenai asked as Hinata led the woman into the kitchen to begin preparing snacks. "How are things going with you and Sasuke?"

Hinata blushed and quickly opened the fridge, praying that the cool air would be enough to soothe her burning face.

"Um, t-t-they're fine! Things are fine!" she stammered out and tried to look preoccupied with pulling food out to place on the counter.

Things were fine. More than fine actually. It had only been fouty-eight hours since Sasuke had regained some semblance of sight and it was like the slight edge he had around himself had fallen. He wasn't so sharp or guarded. In fact, it was fun to quietly watch him explore all of the nooks and crannies of the house and squint confusedly at their sad little garden. However, she felt more nervous than ever before. The anonymity she had when he was blind was gone and now she felt self-conscious about everything. It didn't help that the thing he seemed to be the most curious about exploring was herself. Hinata squeezed her eyes closed as her face turned even redder than before.

"I guess that means that things are going well." Kurenai grinned and Hinata nervously nodded her head.

"It…its strange." Hinata started, struggling to find the words to express the thoughts that had been swirling around in her mind for the past few weeks."I feel so nervous when he looks at me now… and when he's close my heart won't stop beating but I don't know. It's not like how I felt for Naruto."

"How you _felt_ for Naruto?"

Hinata bit her bottom lip before walking over to the sink to wash her hands and the fruits and vegetables from the fridge.

"I…I don't know how to explain it." She said, thoroughly running the cucumbers she had underneath the stream of running water. "I feel so confused sometimes."

"Well don't try to figure it out." Kurenai smiled as she leaned against an adjacent counter. "If you overthink things you will hesitate in a moment that you shouldn't. It's okay to be confused but don't let it hold you back."

The Hyuuga looked up at her former sensei and smiled. She was the closest thing she had to a mother and at times like this, she couldn't ask for anyone better. Kurenai never tried to tell her what to think or what to do. When she stayed within the confines of the compound she'd never been able to value that aspect of their relationship but now it was exactly what she needed. Moving on to a lighter conversation about Mirai's development, Hinata had just finished cutting up two platterfuls of fruits and vegetables when the doorbell rang again. This time when she answered the door she was surprised to find Ino beaming at her and Sai with a bag on his arm.

"I-I-Ino-" Hinata started but the blonde placed a finger over her lips.

"Hello." Sai said stiffly.

"Hello Sa-"

"I am Sai and this is Ino of the clan Yama- I mean the Yamanaka clan. We come bearing gifts."

Hinata's eyes widened as she locked in on the bag that he carried. Gifts? Why did he have gifts?

"Yes. Gifts." Sai continued and held out the bag that he was carrying. Warily she stared at the offering but didn't accept it. "It is customary to give a gift as a show of alliance and good faith between clans when an engagement is announced. Please accept this gift as a token of…friendship."

With 'friendship' Sai attempted to smile but it came off as more of a grimace. Beside him, Ino clapped her hands triumphantly. Sai continued to stiffly hold his bag of 'gifts' out to her.

"Great job!" she cheered before turning to Hinata. "We're working on interpersonal socialization this week."

"No-no?" a little voice from inside called out. "No-no!"

Small feet scrambled from the living room to the front door until the owner nearly crashed into the back of Hinata's legs. Mirai straightened herself out before a disaster happened and beamed up at the blonde haired woman before her.

"Is this my Mirai?" Ino cooed and ran into the house to pick the happy little girl up.

"No-no!"

Hinata pressed herself up against the door jam to allow Sai to enter as well and couldn't help but wonder what she'd gotten herself into. Hopefully, Sasuke wouldn't mind the extra company. Just as she was about to shut the door, a small black beetle landed on the doorknob. At the sight of it, Hinata immediately looked up with a heart swelling full of anticipation. She was far too familiar with this species of beetle to not feel instantly expectant at the sight of it. It took only a moment of waiting before two dark specs appeared at the gate of the nearly deserted Uchiha district. Her heart felt lighter with each step they took to get closer and when they finally made it to the front door it almost felt as if her face were about to split in half from smiling so much.

"Kiba-kun!" she greeted breathlessly. "Shino-kun!"

Kiba had barely made it to the top step before he swept her legs out from underneath her and picked her up. Against his chest, a small beige puppy squirmed in its bundle. Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she laid eyes on the tiny thing. It was nearly a spitting image of Akamaru.

"Hinata! I missed you!" Kiba shouted, squeezing her tightly but still being mindful of the pup.

"I missed you too Kiba-kun." she said although not with as much exuberance.

No one could match Kiba on energy when he was excited. Still, it was true that she'd missed him. It had been far too long since she'd been in his and Shino's presence. They'd both grown so much since the end of the war! Kiba was starting to grow a little scruff on his chin-something she was sure his sister Hana disapproved of- and Shino's hair had gotten a bit longer. They both carried with them an air of maturity that came with being survivors of war but she knew that underneath the tough veneer they were still the same boys she met all those years ago.

"Hinata." Sasuke called from the door.

His flat voice interrupted their mini-reunion and brought small frowns onto the faces of her teammates. Carefully she slid out of Kiba's arms and made her way to the side of her fiancé who looked mildly put out. Smiling, she grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze before turning back to her teammates.

"Sasuke." She said proudly as she beamed at the newcomers. "This is Aburume Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, my teammates."

 **…..**

This was a mess.

Never before had there been this many people been inside his house at once. From Sai repeatedly attempting to engage with him in conversation to Mirai running underfoot, Sasuke hoped that this would be the first and last time that something like this occurred. They all made his head hurt and a not so small part of him wished that he was still blind. If he was then he wouldn't have to watch the way her 'teammates' hovered near her as if they were satellites orbiting a moon. He hated how familiar they were with one another. How freely they touched her and how she didn't even seem to notice.

They were marking her as theirs but what they failed to realize was that she was _his._

When they all finally left the door would close behind them and it would just be the two of them left. He would not have to share her with others. He would erase every hug, every brush of the shoulder, every innocuous graze that lasted a moment too long. He would erase them with his own hands and claim places that those men never could-

"You'd think you were plotting the demise of the village. Should I be concerned?" A bored voice said, cutting through the Uchiha's thoughts and reminding him that he was not alone.

Sasuke frowned and ran a tired hand through his hair. How many more people were going to show up today? Their tiny house was now crawling with unfamiliar voices and smells. It made his head throb to be surrounded by so many people.

"What do you want Kakashi?" he asked and the man in question chuckled.

"Do I always have to want something?"

Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow, causing Kakashi to laugh.

"You truly have a low opinion of me don't you?" Kakashi said with a sigh.

"You haven't exactly kept your word on training me so I don't see why I should trust you." Sasuke retorted.

"I am a Hokage you know. I do have work to do from time to time."

"Hn. I don't need your help anymore anyway."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Hinata gave me back my sight." Sasuke said, his eyes automatically drawn to where Hinata was showing Mirai and Ino their pitiful excuse for a garden.

He watched her squat low to the ground with the girl, point out different sprouts and explaining what each one would grow up to become. It was oddly amusing seeing her explain things to a child. She was surprisingly good at it for a girl sheltered within a clan like the Hyuuga. She was a woman that had been waited on hand and foot and groomed to be trophy by the side of a wealthy and influential husband.

Yet, as vapid as he'd once assumed she'd be, she was turning out to be the exact opposite. Sure she gushed over romance books and cried at things he couldn't understand but there were other times that she proved to be different. Times like now when she was able to have a child as rambunctious as Mirai hang onto her every word…

"With all of these people here and the fact that you haven't murdered any of them, I'd say you're adjusting quite well. We need to start planning your reintegration into Konoha's forces." Kakashi said and Sasuke tore his eyes away from Hinata.

"You do realize that no one outside of Naruto would be willing to be placed on a team with me." Sasuke grunted. Kakashi smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You have such a sunny disposition I can't fathom why?" he said. "You're right, however. No one trusts you. Not even most of the people here."

Sasuke looked around the backyard at the company he did not ask to keep. The slightest movement on his part caused all eyes to trail back to him suspiciously. He was used to being watched…mistrusted. This was not a new phenomenon.

"Most of the people?" he snorted as he locked eyes with Hinata's teammates that stood protectively behind her and Mirai. Half of their attention was put on having a conversation with Kurenai but the other half had been diligently watching him this entire time. "Try everyone."

"Not everyone," Kakashi said. "There are some that are willing to put their lives on the line to protect you."

"Then they are fools."

Kakashi laughed and shook his head before pulling out a yellowed scroll from the pocket of his vest. He then handed it to Sasuke who accepted it curiously.

"This is your marriage contract." He explained and pressed the scroll into the reluctant Uchiha's hand. "The time of your wedding is growing closer, it would be a good idea for you and Hinata to read over it together. I think that now you will now possess a different opinion about what is written."

"How so?" Sasuke scoffed. The existence of the contract still left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Well, for one thing, you don't think she's some 'Hyuuga whore' anymore."

Sasuke couldn't help but wince slightly as the Hokage threw his words back at him.

"She heard that you know. Somehow, despite knowing how poorly you thought of her, she still decided to go through with the agreement. It is to my knowledge that she has been up to the task of caring for you. I don't believe that you could find her lacking in the way of future domestic and matriarch duties."

The Uchiha drew his eyes away from his former sensei and back to where Hinata stood with their unwelcome house guests and Mirai on her him. He could pick out her laughter distinctly from the noise and wondered what she looked like when she smiled. Kakashi was correct. He could find no fault in her no matter how hard he tried. Even her annoying pillow wall was amusing in its own way because it was fun to tear it down. It was fun to hear her protest against him. It was even more fun to silence those protests with his lips.

"Do you enjoy your life as it is now?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke stiffened at the question. Did he enjoy this life? This life of complacency and habituality? A life where his katana was not permanently strapped to his side, it's crevices caked with the blood of his enemies?

"I don't know." He said finally and Kakashi nodded his head thoughtfully.

Did he even deserve to enjoy this life after everything he'd done? No. No, he did not.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, placing a calloused hand on the younger man's shoulder. "The life of a shinobi is much too short for one to dabble in 'I don't know'. Figure out what you want and do whatever it takes to keep it."

With that, he stepped down from the deck and went to join their other uninvited guests. Sasuke frowned and leaned against the wooden railing. Their blurred figures all blended together the more he tried to focus on them, causing his headache to worsen and his eyes to burn. He still watched them despite the discomfort.

This was a life that he could have.

A life filled with people he wanted to protect was something that Itachi had wanted for him. His brother had given up everything for that. Still…was this life one that he wanted or was he just biding his time? What did he want? No matter how many times he mulled the question over in his mind, he continued to grasp at straws.

What did he want?

 _ **To be continued**_ **…** **Becoming Accepted**


	23. REVISED! Becoming Accepted

**CCNote:** **So this chapter has been weighing on me heavily to the point that I couldn't move on to writing 'Becoming Your Worst Nightmare' until I fixed it. For reference, points of clarification have been added and some grammar has been fixed. There's also a whole ass scene thats been added so go read that. It had been in the original version of this chapter but I cut it out. I was going to use it as a flashback but was dissatisfied. So I added it back in. #Writer struggles! I also changed Hinata's age. I legit thought she was older when the Cloud nin came for her. So big thanks to everyone that pointed it out.**

 **ANYWAY! I hope you enjoy this REVISED chapter. Don't forget to REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Accepted**

This was most certainly _not_ how he would have preferred to spend his afternoon. It wasn't that he hated everyone per se. He would just rather none of them _be there_. The small gathering of Sai, Ino, Hinata's teammates and their former senseis was bad enough. He didn't think that things could get much worse than that. Unfortunately, those thoughts manifested themselves into reality and created a situation that was in fact worse…

… _. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei we're here! Hey-"_

" _Why are you yelling?" Sasuke growled as he reluctantly lifted himself up from his place of refuge._

 _Camping out on the living room couch had seemed like a good idea an hour ago. It was marginally cooler inside of the house and Mirai was much more interested in catching butterflies with Shino than climbing on him at the moment._ _He'd seized the opportunity to escape as soon as it presented itself because if he was going to have to watch Hinata gush over a damn dog for a second longer things were not going to end well. However, it appeared even inside of his own home he was no longer allowed to have peace. Naruto's loud presence had marched right into the house with Sakura in tow and what appeared to be more bags than either of them had a right to carry._

" _What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked suspiciously and Naruto toddled over to the couch under the weight of his cargo._

" _Don't look at me like that." He huffed. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Kakashi-sensei sending me a dumb message that forced me to be."_

 _Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes. The blonde did not need to be forced into visiting the Uchiha District. Hinata filling his bottomless pit of a stomach was enough of a draw. Behind Naruto, Sakura shuffled past the couch and silently made her way towards the kitchen._

" _You could at least say 'hi' to her ya know." Naruto hissed and released his bags before plopping onto the couch next to him._

" _I did not invite you here."_

" _Still it's like the polite thing to do. Didn't Hinata tell you to be nice to your friends?"_

 _The Uchiha frowned and leaned back onto the couch with an arm over his eyes. Hinata had expressed the desire that he try not to be so…rough…when dealing with others. He didn't appreciate Naruto bringing it up though, especially not when it had to do with Sakura._

" _You should be happy that I'm not 'nice' to her." He said._

" _I'd be happier if you were."_

" _Then you're an idiot."_

" _Sasuke. I'm being serious." Naruto said firmly, the stern tone of his voice causing Sasuke to remove his arm from over his eyes. Naruto was rarely ever serious. "She is one of our comrades and she's done a lot for you whether you want to acknowledge it or not. You can't just ignore her feelings or act like they don't matter."_

" _Naruto-"_

" _No. You need to listen for a second. I get that before you couldn't reciprocate the way she felt because you had a lot of shit going on and you were too stupid to let anyone in. I get that now you're getting married so it's too late to even try. Sakura still cares a lot about you though and deserves for you to not just act like she doesn't exist. You've always been the most important thing to her."_

 _Sasuke smirked as Naruto's words washed over him and he sat upright._

" _Reciprocate huh?" he chuckled. "That's a big word for you."_

" _Yea I've been trying to read. I don't like books but Sakura has these scrolls and I can't understand anything in them- hey! You asshole we are talking about you right now not me!"_

" _You like her."_

" _Sasuke-"_

" _You like-like her." The Uchiha continued, enjoying the way Naruto's blurred figure tensed when his own words were thrown back at him. "You have to tell a girl that you like them."_

" _It's not that simple." Naruto quipped although all of his previous sternness seemed to evaporate. "She's still in love with you."_

" _That makes two of us."  
_

" _What?"_

" _Don't act stupid." Sasuke replied, lazily running a hand through his hair._

 _He had no idea how Hinata felt now but the reality was that she did, in fact, have strong feelings for the idiot seated beside him and…if he was being honest…it bothered him. It bothered him more than her giving special attention to a dog. It bothered him more than how close she was to her male teammates. It bothered him to the point where he no longer wished to sit next to Naruto and pretend that things were okay._

" _Hey now." Naruto protested as soon as he stood up from the couch. "Hinata did say that she was in love with me and I pretty awesome but that doesn't mean she still feels the same way!"_

" _Hn." Sasuke shrugged and walked away from the couch to go outside._

 _Maybe Hinata was still in love with Naruto._

 _Maybe she wasn't._

 _Either way, not knowing irked him more than he realized…_

….The realization of the fact that Hinata might still be in love with Naruto was bad enough. What made it worse was trying to come to terms with it was made all the more difficult by the addition of even more people traipsing through his house. Kakashi, Konoha's great and honorable Hokage, had seen it fit to gather all of his remaining peers for an informal introduction to socialization with other people. If he hadn't hated the man before he certainly did now that there were near strangers traipsing in and out of his house.

Currently, he sat by the fire, nursing his own personal bottle of sake, and hoping desperately that everyone would leave so that he could finally go the sleep. The biggest highlight of the night had been using his chakra for the first time to set the pile of wood Sai and Kiba had gathered on fire. The exhilaration of using his own chakra had lasted for all of six seconds before draining him entirely.

Now…now he just wanted to sleep.

Sasuke sighed and took a sip of sake. As the day had worn on, his vision was growing increasing blurry from the strain and stress of being around so many people. Sleep would be a quick fix for that but was also something that would not come anytime soon, not with this ruckus. A familiar gasp on the other side of the fire caused Sasuke to pause from returning his bottle to his lips and squint to find the source. Everything seemed to be normal. Ino, Tenten, and Sakura were gossiping near the table of food they'd dragged outside. Naruto was busy trying to convince Kakashi of some asinine request while Sai repeatedly failed at getting Shino to say a word. The gasp had to have come from Hinata but she was nowhere to be found.

"Sasuke!" Hinata called out but he still couldn't pinpoint where she was. "Sasuke!"

Frowning he stood up and tried to walk around the bonfire since it was distorting his vision. He'd barely taken a step forward before Hinata nearly startled him by shuffling up to his right side. He squinted at her curiously as she tried to catch her breath. Was something wrong? He rubbed his right eye in irritation.

"Oh how could I forget!" she mumbled under her breath and grabbed his hand to lead him back to the log he'd been sitting on. "Close your eyes please."

Still confused, he did as he was directed and closed his eyes. Once they were closed she scooted closer to him and pressed a soft hand against his temple. Instantly the cool feeling of her chakra, though invasive and unfamiliar, relieved some of the pressure behind his eyes. When she removed her hand, Sasuke was surprised to find his headache and the burning sensation from before had vanished. He blinked, Hinata's blurry figure slowly coming into focus.

He'd been right about one thing, her eyes were pale just like he'd expected. However, he'd been wrong about so much more.

"How does that feel?" she asked and he swallowed thickly, unable to form the words that he needed to reply to her. "Today has been difficult for you hasn't it?"

"It's fine." He mumbled as he distractedly tried to commit her now clear features to memory.

Slowly, he trailed down from her eyes to the slight upturn of her nose before finally resting upon lips he was quickly becoming familiar with. They looked just as soft as they felt, the only thing marring them was Hinata nervously biting on her bottom lip. Frowning, he brought his hand up to her face to cup her cheek. Using his thumb, he gently pulled her lip away from her teeth and leaned down to kiss her. Unfortunately, his descent was thwarted by a small whine from Hinata's lap.

"Oh!" Hinata squeaked nervously as he pulled away. "I wanted to talk to you about this."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at how quickly a light pink blush spread across her cheeks but nodded for her to continue. Did she always blush this easily?

"This puppy is from Akamaru's litter but…he's so small." She said, gently stroking the beige ball of fur in her lap. "His mother has rejected him and it's dangerous for him to be around his litter mates right now. He could be hurt. So…"

"So?" he repeated when she trailed off, reaching out to stop her from biting her bottom lip again. It was clearly a bad habit of hers.

"So I was wondering if we could keep him here? With us?"

"Keep him?"

"J-just until he's big enough to hold his own! It will only be for a few weeks and I don't think he will be much trouble. Kiba has his hands full with all of the other puppies and clan duties. It's the least I could do to help."

Sasuke pressed his lips in a tight line and regarded the puppy in Hinata's lap. It was sleeping quite peacefully despite the raucous noise from the party, something Sasuke found to be an enviable quality. It was bad enough that Hinata had been gushing over the damn thing all day but now she wanted it to stay. What was so great about a runt anyway? Certainly, natural selection would run its course and this puppy wasn't meant to survive. Who were they to intervene? His eyes moved up from the weakling to Hinata, a quick rejection on the tip of his tongue. However, those words died an even faster death as he took in the face of a woman that expected it. He'd seen that emotion countless times from Sakura and Karin but from Hinata it made him feel…uncomfortable. Reaching out once more, he pulled her bottom lip from her teeth.

"It can stay." He said and as soon as the acceptance left his lips, Hinata's entire face lit up with a smile.

The sight made his breath catch in his throat and the nervous feeling from earlier returned. His entire stomach felt as if it were trying to do backflips and increased substantially when she leaned towards him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Sasuke." She whispered but he still heard her loud and clear.

Her words settled the rolling of his stomach as quick as she'd relieved the pressure behind his eyes. As he watched her stand up to leave, he knew at that moment that he had a problem. If she continued looking at him like that…if his name stayed on her lips… there was very little he would be able to deny her.

 **….**

Kiba sighed as he carefully observed Hinata interact so freely with the Uchiha. A traitor. A man with no ties or family to speak of. A man that couldn't give her even a fraction of what she deserved.

'She shouldn't be here.' He thought and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Yet if she wasn't here, where else was she to go? To Naruto? Kiba glanced over to where the blonde was emphatically talking to Kakashi with his arms waving in the air to add emphasis to his argument. It was obvious that he'd had one too many to drink that night but his behavior didn't seem to phase the Hokage. In fact, he appeared almost amused by it. As he continued to state his case, Sakura walked over and smacked the back of his head to get him quiet.

Kiba winced at the violent action but it did the trick to get Naruto to stop his pointless yelling. He then shook his head and returned to watching Hinata. She would not be able to handle someone like Naruto. A man like him shone too brightly to ever allow Hinata a chance to shine. He'd drown her out and without a single word of protest, she would inevitably fade into the background. Uchiha Sasuke though? What kind of man was he aside from the villain he'd become over the last few years? What could he possibly do for her?

He frowned as Hinata scooted closer to the Uchiha on the fallen log, her hand gently coming to rest on his temple. The contact was brief but it was more intimate than it should have been. When Sasuke opened his eyes, he looked at Hinata as if it were his first time seeing her and it made something in the pit of his stomach tighten. He didn't have to be close to know what they were saying nor did he need to be a mind reader to understand their thoughts. Sasuke held some sort of affection for Hinata... well as much of an affection as one could expect from someone as cold as he was. If Hinata's bright red face was any indication, he could safely presume that she felt the same.

"What do you think?" Shino asked as he and Kurenai, who was carrying a sleeping Mirai on her hip, came to stand on either side of him.

"She likes him." Kiba said with a sigh and his companions nodded.

Hinata wasn't the same constantly fainting girl that she was with Naruto but it was clear that she liked him. What she saw in him though he had no clue. The Uchiha mostly kept to himself and was much for conversation with others. Mirai wasn't threatened by him which was a good sign but he would be remiss to trust a two-year-old's sense of character.

"They're kinda cute together don't you think?" Kurenai said and Kiba let out an indignant snort.

"That traitor is not someone I would call cute. Besides I'm way better looking!"

"Keep telling yourself that." Shino said flatly as he placed a hand on his shoulder. Kiba tried to brush his hand away but the bug-user just ignored him. "I'm still not sure that she will not be harmed even if it's not by the Uchiha's own hand."

Kiba stopped trying to push Shino away and frowned as he watched Hinata lean over to press a kiss against Sasuke's cheek. The Hyuuga were not idiots. It was rare that someone from the main house would marry outside of the clan. It was only when they had something greater to gain that such a marriage occurred. Sasuke had no political standing. As a one man clan, he did not have the power of his family to back him up. There was money and land to be had but it wasn't like Sasuke was ever going use it all within his lifetime. However, he did have the Sharingan and that was worth more than most people realized.

"You don't think Sasuke still has enemies do you?" Kurenai asked.

"Who knows." Shino shrugged. "He's not exactly well-liked. The wedding is set for after the harvest which is only a few weeks away. It'll only be a matter of time before the Hyuuga and the council expect there to be offspring. Can you imagine the child their union would produce?"

A child with the potential for both the Byakugan and the Sharingan would be powerful. _Too powerful_. That potential alone was likely what made the council hold their noses as they set him free. Internally his stomach did a backflip as he thought of the child- no _children._ The council would not be satisfied with just one. Hinata would bear many for that man. They would all be Uchiha. Dark haired children with eyes that could potentially make them targets the minute they were born. Kurenai held Mirai closer and placed a kiss on the sleeping girl's temple.

"This is a time of peace." She said but Shino shook his head.

"Peace can only last for so long."

The three of them tensed at his words but painted on smiles as Hinata bounded up excitedly to them. Her pale eyes were bright with rare, unbridled excitement.

"Kiba!" she said breathlessly as she adjusted the squirming pup in her arms. "He said yes! We can keep him!"

"Really?!" Kiba replied, taken aback that the Uchiha was willing to let the runt stay. Hinata nodded her head quickly and her smile widened even further. "Well, I'll be damned."

He then took the sleeping pup from Hinata- who was rather reluctant to give him up- and returned him to the sling around his neck.

"I'll bring him by with the supplies you'll need in the morning. Are you sure you want to do this? Taking care of a runt isn't easy."

Hinata nodded her head in understanding but her resolve did not waver with his warning. Sighing he placed a hand on top of the shorter woman's head and ruffled her dark hair. Being with the Uchiha was not the life he wished that she would lead. If fifteen year old him had had his way they would have been married with five kids by now. She could play with all the puppies she wanted and he could keep her safe from harm.

He'd learned quickly though that life didn't work out the way one wanted it too.

Hinata's heart had always belonged to Naruto…and now she was slowly giving it over to Sasuke. What remained of it anyway. Kiba looked up from his former teammate to lock eyes with the Uchiha across the fire. Dark eyes narrowed at his point of contact with Hinata and he couldn't help but smirk. The Uchiha was jealous. Slowly his smirk spread into a smile when Hinata hugged him and dark eyes looked away.

'Good.'

 **…..**

 **"** Sakura-chaaaaan!"

"Stop yelling!"

"Be gentle!"

"Stop saying weird things, you idiot! The neighbors can hear you!" Sakura huffed and adjusted Naruto's weight so that he leaned against the doorframe of his apartment.

He wasn't heavy, at least not to her, but eating ramen every night certainly wasn't doing him any favors.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto repeated, this time in a poorly excecuted whisper.

Shaking her head, she held out her hand for him to give her his keys to get in. He merely smacked her hand as if he were giving her a high-five, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Your keys Naruto." The pink haired woman grumbled. She really should have stopped him after his second drink at Sasuke's house. He wasn't as bad as Lee but he was a lightweight. "Where are your keys?"

The Uzumaki slumped down the doorframe at her words, his eyes growing heavy with the call of a drunken slumber. Quickly, Sakura moved to keep him standing upright so that she could fish for his keys herself. The first pocket she tried- the right one on his jacket- was empty while the left held his battered frog wallet. Sakura frowned at the dingy thing before putting it back. He'd had that stupid wallet for years. When was he going to get another one?

'He's so stubborn. He'll never replace it on his own.' Sakura thought and began to fish around for his keys in his pants pockets.

"Ooo Sakura-chan. You're so forward." Naruto giggled. "You didn't even feed me dinner first."

"Naruto you ass! If you keep this up I'll leave you right here on the doorstep!" she hissed, her entire face turning a rather brilliant shade of red.

She then resumed her search and quickly pulled a key out of his front pant's pocket. However, instead of his usual keychain that only held the key to his apartment, another chain had been clipped to it. It was one she'd grown very familiar with during the months that he'd been away in Suna. The tiny green frog smiled up at her, the spare key it held glinting in the dim porch light. The last time she'd held this key she'd thrown it back at him.

Why did he still have this?

What was the point of walking around with two sets of keys?

Pushing those questions out of her mind, she used one of the keys to unlock the apartment and lumbered inside with a drunk Uzumaki. The small apartment was dark when she entered save for the streetlights that filtered in through the cracks in his blinds. She didn't turn on the lights though, she knew his apartment like the back of her hand. Carefully she stepped over empty soda cans and dull kunai, frowning at how messy his apartment had gotten. When she reached his room, she moved away from his side so that her body no longer supported him and he fell unceremoniously onto the bed. Naruto groaned into his pillows and rolled over onto his back.

"I thought you said you'd be gentle? The room is all spinning now." he whined but she ignored him in favor of taking off his shoes.

After his shoes were off, she unzipped his jacket and only paused for a moment to glance at her sensei's old necklace around his neck. Tearing her eyes away, she sat next to Naruto on the bed and leaned back.

"Sit up so that you can take off your jacket." She directed. **  
**

Naruto clumsily did as he'd been ordered to, allowing his jacket to slip off of his shoulders and onto the bed. Before she could stop him though he was already removing his shirt.

"Hey, I said your jacket!" Sakura protested but Naruto had already tossed his shirt over the side of the bed.

"I can't sleep with a shirt on." He shrugged innocently but the cheeky grin he flashed told her that he was anything but. "It's hot. I'm taking my pants off too-"

"Don't you dare!"

Naruto laughed and flopped back onto but complied with her request to keep his pants on.

"Alright so now you're safely in bed. I'll be by to check on you in the morning."

"Noooooooooooo." Naruto moaned, popping back up into a seat position.

His bright blue eyes were bloodshot from his drunken escapades but they remained steadily on her. Placing a hand over hers on the bed, he stared at her imploringly.

"Naruto-" she started as he gently tugged her hand towards him.

"You should stay."

Sakura sighed as her shoulders slumped and the events of the day finally began to press their weight on her mind. Working at the academy for the day had been fun but she was pretty tired afterward. Going to the Uchiha District and essentially being ignored by Sasuke hadn't been much better. It would be nice to just crash for once without her mind replaying every instance of hurt from the day over and over again. If she went home now her parents would surely wake up and have a million questions as to where she'd been. She also had work in the morning…

"Just stay here." Naruto said again, this time pulling her to lay on the bed next to him. "I sleep better when there's someone around."

"I have things to do Naruto." Sakura replied but her resolve had already slipped as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"You can do them later."

"What kind of Hokage will you be if you advocate shirking responsibilities like this?" she smirked and a rough hand came up to rest on her cheek.

"You're so mean Sakura-chan." He whined. "But you're so cute I don't mind."

Slowly his hand moved up from her cheek to her forehead. There he gently moved her bangs out of the way and leaned down to press a kiss to the spot where she knew her diamond-shaped seal to be.

"Naruto." She gasped, green eyes widening as he drew away from her slightly. "What are you doing?"

The Uzumaki only closed his eyes, yawned, and sleepily rolled over onto his back.

"Sorry Sakura-chan. You're forehead's so cute. I just had to kiss it."

 **...**

Hinata groaned into her pillow and reluctantly opened her eyes. The bright rays of the morning sun peeked through the bedroom's curtains, making the Hyuuga slightly confused. When had she gone to bed? Last night Ino and Sakura had been never-ending chatterboxes while the rest of their guests continued to mill about. The excitement of everyone being together for the first time in awhile coupled with the copious amount of alcohol Naruto had brought, made it feel as if the night was never going to.

Beside her, a muffled grumbling alerted her to the fact that she was not alone. Her face immediately flushed red as her companion cuddled up against her backside and buried his face in her shoulder. He was probably the reason she made it back to their bedroom instead of passed out in the living room. Even though he'd been patient last night with all of the chaos, she knew that the Uchiha longed for sleep and couldn't achieve it if she was not with him. Hinata bit her bottom lip as his nose pressed into the crook of her neck.

"Sasuke." She whispered nervously and he responded with a tired grumbling of his own.

"Hinata." He replied. His lips brushed against her neck and caused her to giggle.

"It's time to wake up."

"No."

His 'no' was partially muffled against her skin, causing goosebumps to appear. She tried to squirm away from him but it only made him hold onto her tighter. His lips pressed against her shoulder in a way that was far from accidental. They really did need to get up and get started for the day. Kiba would stop by with the puppy soon…

"Sasuke-"

"No."

Hinata gulped at the firmness in his voice, not out of fear but from another foreign sensation that she was quickly becoming familiar with. When he moved above her, onyx eyes roving greedily from her face downward, she knew that he felt it too. Arousal. She looked away, unable to make eye contact with him. She could still feel his eyes scan her body greedily which caused heat to pool at her center. A curious hand slid just under the edge of her shirt, skillful fingers splaying themselves just under the thin material

"Yesterday, I was patient. I shared." He said, leaning down so that his lips were close to her ear. "Today will be different."

"Different?" Hinata squeaked but he did not reply.

Instead, he drew his lips away from her ear to look down at her once more. This time his eyes had shifted from black to a dichromatic red and purple. They were hypnotizing to be trapped by but that was the point. His eyes were meant to catch enemies off guard, analyze their every move, and use their weaknesses against them.

"Sasuke," she whispered, praying that her voice didn't betray the uncertainty she felt. "Your eyes."

The Uchiha cursed under his breath and immediately rolled off of her and placed a hand over his eyes. Even though his body was no longer hovering above her, her heart continued to beat erratically in her chest. What was this? This nervous warmth that was steadily pooling in the pit of her stomach?

"Dammit." Sasuke hissed as he sat up on the bed.

Hinata looked over at him and was surprised to find that he'd yet to deactivate his eyes. She sat up as well and placed a hand on his shoulder, mildly alarmed at the heat that radiated off of his skin. He flinched harshly at her touch and moved away.

"Sasuke-" she started but the sound of the doorbell ringing cut off what she wanted to say.

Reluctantly she got off the bed and padded barefoot out of their room to answer the door. The doorbell only rang once more before she was able to open it. On the doorstep Kiba stood before her laden down with the bags of equipment she would need to care for the new puppy. All thoughts of the awkward start to her morning vanished as soon as the puppy poked its head out of its sling.

"Good morning Kiba!" she said excitedly and made room for the Inuzuka to enter the house.

"Morning…" he started but trailed off at the end. His brow scrunched together as he sniffed the air and took a step towards her.

"Kiba?"

Was something wrong? Kiba usually on got that look on his face when he was searching for something. Hesitantly she took a step back. The Inuzuka sniffed the air again but this time his entire face turned red.

"Kiba are you alright?" she asked and her teammates coughed awkwardly.

"Nothing. It's nothing. Nothing at all. Let's just go to the deck and I'll tell you what you need to do."

Hinata stared at him curiously as he shuffled through the house to get to the back door. Why was Kiba so nervous? Was it something she'd said? Did she smell bad? Pouting she cupped her hand over her mouth and smelled her breath. It wasn't that bad but then again Kiba did have a sensitive nose.

 **.….**

"You're so cute." Hinata mused to herself as she stroked the head of the little ball of fur in her arms.

She'd seen many puppies during her time as Kiba's teammate. Akamaru was actually a conduit in helping her become more comfortable around her two male counterparts. Kiba was loud and boisterous while Shino was quiet and a little creepy. She had no idea how to communicate with people so unlike her clansmen but having Akamaru around made her more relaxed. Having a miniature version of him almost felt too surreal.

Hinata smiled before going down the hall to the bedroom. Kiba had spent most of the morning detailing all of the in's and out's of caring for what he deemed to be a 'runt'. She didn't care for the term much as it held a negative connotation-one that struck a little too close to home for her. Sure this puppy's breaths were shallower than most and could fit in the palm of her hand but that didn't make it less valuable. One day it would be a superior ninja-dog she just knew it!

"Sasuke." She said as she opened the door to the bedroom to find the man she was looking for.

There on the bed, he sat with his back against the headboard and a weathered scroll only a few inches from his face. Placing a hand on the underside of the sling to prevent it from swinging too much, Hinata climbed onto the bed to see what he was looking at. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to decipher the elaborate scrawl…it looked vaguely familiar.

"By the order of the Hyuuga clan and under the good faith of the Uchiha, we hereby enact an alliance between us…" Hinata said, recognition causing the words she read to catch in her throat. "Sasuke this is our contract…how…how did you get this?"

"Kakashi brought it by yesterday." The Uchiha shrugged and placed the scroll in his lap. "Do you know how much they've sold you for?"

Hinata shook her head and bit her bottom lip. She didn't want to know. Sasuke smirked and turned his dark eyes towards her.

"You're expensive. I'm surprised my father agreed to such an amount. Then again to have Itachi marry an heiress would have been seen as worth it."

Uchiha Itachi. A man that slaughtered his clan. A man that protected the village. Somehow she couldn't square those two facts together. Her nursemaids had told her stories of the gruesome ways the bodies had been found and the blood that soaked the streets of the Uchiha District well after the first rains had come and gone. A man like Itachi was used as a forewarning against betraying the clan. How could you kill the people that loved you?

'You could if there was something more important.' Hinata thought as she pressed her lips together and slid closer to Sasuke.

"Sasuke…" she started, hoping to get his mind away from the thoughts that caused his brow to wrinkle. "This is…is…well he doesn't have a name but Kiba said that we could name him."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled. She like that expression on his face a lot more than the cloud that had been there before. Gently she picked the drowsy puppy up out of the sling and with her free hand, pulled the marriage contract out of Sasuke's lap. In its place, she put the puppy.

"What should we name him?" She asked and Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"It'll die on its own in a week."

"Sasuke!" she gasped and snatched the puppy back.

"What?"

"Don't say that! It will be fine!"

"I'm only telling you the truth."

Hinata frowned and hugged the puppy close to her heart. That wasn't the truth. This puppy would be just fine. Its heartbeat was strong enough and with any luck so was its will. As long as the puppy didn't give up neither would she!

"This one will be strong." She said confidently as she gently stroked the ball of fur. "Just you wait."

 **….**

Konoha was…brighter than he remembered. Hinata had told him that a lot of things had changed but this was a lot to take in. Not only was everything switched around but there were also strange looks to contend with. As soon as they'd set foot on the main road, the stares had started. It wasn't so bad when he was blind. They'd only left the District a couple of times since his arrival and of course, he'd felt the presence of people staring at him as he walked by. It had been easy enough to ignore at the time. Now that his sight had nearly returned to its previous capabilities ignoring the stares was proving to be a bit harder.

Against his chest, the Inuzuka's weakling whined at all of the noise they were surrounded by and Sasuke couldn't help but sympathize with it. He'd much rather return to the peace and quiet of the District. The Uchiha frowned as a couple of old ladies stared at him pointedly and poorly hid their gossiping lips behind their hands. It was difficult to look menacing with a puppy strapped to one's chest but the women quickly hurried past, sparing only a few glances over their shoulders. Behind him, a store bell jingled.

"Thank you very much Ino-san!"

"Don't mention it! Tell Neji I said hi!"

Sasuke turned around at the sound of Hinata's voice finally leaving the Yamanaka's flower shop. She wasn't looking at him though. Instead, she was smiling distantly at the ostentatiously large bouquet of white lilies. Why Hinata wished to buy flowers for a man was something he could not understand. He'd given up on trying to understand why she was the way she was. She was confusing and strange but she was not stupid. At least not as stupid as Naruto.

Awkwardly he cleared his throat. He didn't want to hang around on the street for longer than he had to. Hinata blinked up at him in surprise but the small smile on her face remained. Sasuke looked away from her and shoved his hands into his pockets. Why did she have to look at him like that? It was awkward and weird and he wanted her to do it again…just not where people could see.

"Let's go." She said softly.

Her free hand slipped easily into his own, leading him away from the Yamanaka storefront and further up the busy street. The stares didn't decrease as they moved through the crowd. They were arguably worse but at least they gave them wide berth. It was almost as if they had the plague the way some of the villagers were acting. No wonder his clan had decided to rebel. People acted as if he were a monster. Were they wrong though? He wasn't exactly a saint. There was more blood on his hands than he could possibly atone for. Beside him, Hinata gave his hand a slight squeeze, dragging him out the downward turn his thoughts were beginning to take.

"We should hurry, I think he's getting fussy." Hinata said and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

'Getting fussy? Who was getting-'

A small whine and squirm reminded him of the weakling in the sling and he rolled his eyes. Never in his life did he imagine himself willingly strapping a dog to his chest, especially one as pitiful as this. Picking up their pace, they quickly moved through the crowded main street before turning a corner to a less populated path. The further they walked, the fewer people they passed until they made it to a pair of black wrought-iron gates that he'd only stood before once.

This was the place where Konoha buried their fallen. Men and women that had lost their lives protecting the village. Within these graves were the remains of those well remembered and those who'd been forgotten. Within a few of these graves, he wouldn't be surprised if he were responsible for putting them there. Sasuke froze at the entrance, warily scanning the thigh-high black memorials that dotted the rolling hills of the cemetery.

Why…

Why were they here?

"Sasuke." Hinata started, her voice full of concern. "Is something wrong?"

"I thought that we were visiting Neji?" he said and his chest tightened as her lips twitched upward into a sad smile.

Squeezing his hand, she pulled him through the gates without a word. Slowly they made their way past countless memorials, all of which were well tended to and glistening proudly in the late afternoon sun. As they walked toward the back edge of the cemetery, the graves became more spaced out between each other. Though there was more green to be seen that just meant that it was ground fertile for the next body. How long until the next shinobi lost their life? How much longer until the next war? Sasuke felt his fingernails dig into the fleshy part of his palm, itching to wrap around his absent katana. He didn't need to fight. Not now…but soon. Soon he would have to.

' _The life of a shinobi is brief.'_

They finally paused in front of one of the obelisks, exactly the same as all of the others save for the fact that it held the name Hyuuga. None of the other stones at even bared the name. Most clans with kekkegenkai disposed of their fallen members in their own way. It was too easy to take advantage of one's body after it was deceased. For a clan as secretive as the Hyuuga, it was strange that one of their own would be buried in such a common grave. While he pondered the oddity, Hinata released his hand and crouched down next to the grave and placed her bouquet at its feet.

"Neji-nii-san." She said, her voice surprisingly happy for being surrounded by the dead. "I'm back and I brought someone with me."

Hinata looked back at him briefly and flashed him a small smile.

"Like you, he's not much of a talker."

Sasuke huffed and the puppy squirmed in its sling. Hinata turned back to the grave and ran her fingers reverently over the engraved name.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been by to visit lately. Things have been…busy. Overall everyone is doing well. Father is in good health and Hanabi is…angry but okay. I wish you were here to talk to her…"

Sasuke furrowed his brow as he watched her speak so freely with a stone. How could she do this?

"Kiba gave us a puppy. Well not 'give'. We are only taking care of it until it can properly be around the others but it's so cute…"

Clearly, this Neji was important to her. How could she speak to him as if he were still alive and made of flesh and blood?

"I promise to come back soon. I won't leave you alone for long again…."

What was the point when it was childish to believe that her words would reach their intended?

"Why?" he asked flatly and Hinata turned to look at him. "Why do you do this?"

Shrugging, Hinata turned back to the grave and stood up to her full height.

"I…I don't know." She sniffed, rubbing away a few errant tears with the heel of her hand.

"You're crying."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize."

It came out harsher than he'd intended it too, betraying the frustration that he felt. If coming here only made her sad what was the point? He watched as silent tears continued to streak down the Hyuuga face, collecting at her chin before dropping to the earth. He had no idea how to deal with her tears. Sadness was not an emotion he felt comfortable around. However, he didn't want to see her cry.

Tentatively he reached out a hand and placed it on the shorter woman's shaking shoulder. Half of him expected her to shrug his hand off after his sharp words from earlier. Instead, she turned towards him and pressed her forehead into his chest though still mindful of the now sleeping puppy. Sasuke tensed at the contact, the wet sensation of her tears seeping through his shirt. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't the comforting type. Warm words and hope were things that came from people like Naruto. People that had happiness to spare.

"I…I'm sorry." Hinata stammered although her words were slightly muffled.

Awkwardly, Sasuke raised his left hand and gingerly patted the top of her head.

"It's…fine." He said stiffly. "It is…normal…to cry."

Hinata nodded her head against his chest but her tears didn't stop. Sasuke continued to stroke the top of her head but his eyes trailed to the black stone behind her.

 _Hyuuga Neji_

He tried to wrack his brain for a memory of the man buried deep into the ground but came up with nothing. He'd been too preoccupied with his own problems to notice more than his own goals as a child. What had he been like? What had he done to earn this woman's loyalty and tears so long after his death?

 _The life of a shinobi is brief…_

The dates on his grave marker indicated that Neji had died less than a year ago. He was young but not too young to die. Death was indiscriminate in that way. Being a shinobi only hastened that fact.

 _Figure out what you want_

Hyuuga Neji had to have had wants and desires like everyone else. What had he wanted? Had he accomplished anything before his life had been cut short?

 _Do whatever it takes to keep it_

In one way the Hyuuga hadn't been successful. He was dead. Whatever he wanted he was unable to keep. Everything about him was irrelevant as his corpse was rotting several feet beneath them. Still…that fact did nothing to quell his curiosity.

Who was Hyuuga Neji?

"Tell me about him." Sasuke said and Hinata pushed away from him slightly. Seeing the confused look on her tear soaked face almost made him laugh but somehow he managed not too.

"Neji?"

"Hn."

A small smile graced her lips as she mulled his words over in her head, futilely attempting to dry her face as she did so.

"There's so much to say." She sniffed before looking up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "If…if I tell you about Neji will you tell me about Itachi?"

Sasuke stiffened at the mention of his brother's name. The only time that name had been spoken was when it fell from his own lips.

"I…I don't mean to intrude but I know he was important to you."

Was important? Itachi had been his idol before the massacre. Afterward, he was his sole reason to continue living. Now he was the reason he was still alive. How could he put into words the conflicting emotions he had about the one person that made his world turn? The one person that still kept it turning long after his death. Absently he felt a small tug on his hand as Hinata directed him to sit on the grass in front of the Hyuuga's grave. Her soft voice mixed in with the rustling of the grass.

"I was three years old when shinobi from the cloud village came to take my eyes…."

 _ **To be continued…**_ **Becoming Your Worst Nightmare**


	24. Becoming Your Worst Nightmare

**CCNote** **: Wow! Thanks so much for all your feedback yall! I love reading all your reviews and while I might not be able to reply to all of them they really motivate me to keep writing especially the troll. I find it hilarious that someone is so invested in something they hate that they'd pray for my misfortune. (I don't think God works that way lmao)**

 **ANYWAY! We are almost halfway to my goal of 2k so let's get it! My final long-form story (20plus chapters) for this site has an outline that is almost complete. If anyone would be interested in being a beta reader let me know. Without further ado please enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW! Also, Valar Morghulis. ;)**

 **Becoming Your Worst Nightmare**

There was one thing true to every man the moment they took their first breath. The moment life entered their body they were born to die. Whatever happened between that first inhalation and the last could be anyone's guess but they all faced the same truth in the end. One day, whether years from now or tomorrow, they would all die. It was the moments that happened before one's death that were the most important. It was her duty as a medic to ensure that anyone she came in contact with had as many of those moments as possible.

While death was an inevitable truth for a medic, there were other truths that had governed her life. It was true that she was expected to walk the same path as her mentor Tsunade. It was true that she had remarkable chakra control but also an incredibly short temper. She liked anything filled with red bean paste and hated all things spicy. She wanted to be stronger and she wanted to be noticed. She wanted to be loved and supported. To be equal and have approval.

She wanted all of that from Sasuke…or at least she had.

Sakura sighed as she sat up on the bed and looked down at the man sleeping beside her. There was another truth, one that she'd ignored because it was inconvenient. That truth was of Naruto's affection for her. Since the first day, they became a team he'd always proclaimed his desire for her. He wanted her attention and affection and approval. Everything she wanted from Sasuke he wanted from her. Of course, the loud verbal confessions had waned over the years. He wasn't screaming 'look at me' anymore. Instead, he kept his feelings to himself. She thought that he'd let go of his crush on her but it appeared that he hadn't. He'd changed in so many ways and not so much in others.

Gone was the baby fat that had clung to his cheeks when they were genin. In its place were the defined features of a man that had seen too much and had the hope of the village resting on his shoulders. Slowly, tired blue eyes opened to peer at her through heavy lids. A small smile spread over his features and caused an uncomfortable feeling of guilt to fill the pit of her stomach.

"You stayed." He said and Sakura nodded.

"Yea." She replied.

She shouldn't have stayed. She should have left as soon as he fell asleep. She should have left as soon as the first rays of sunlight shone through his misshapen blinds. She should have left…but she hadn't. She couldn't. Not until she got the answers she needed.

"What time is it?" he asked.

Sakura shrugged, she should have been at the hospital hours ago. Tsunade and Shizune were probably looking for her. Now concerned and fully awake, Naruto sat up to give her his full attention.

"Did I do something last night? If I said anything stupid I'm really sorry-" he started but Sakura shook her head.

"You said a lot of stupid things but nothing outside of the ordinary." She said and Naruto's shoulders visibly relaxed. "It's just…"

Sakura bit her bottom lip, her hand absently coming up to rest on the spot Naruto had kissed her last night.

' _Your forehead is so cute. I want to kiss it.'_

Sakura blushed as she recalled his words, words that she'd held close to her heart years before he'd ever uttered them. She could remember that day quite vividly. The day she first heard those words from Sasuke had been the first time she'd actually felt pretty. She always been teased about her forehead but Sasuke had said that it was cute. He said that he wanted to kiss her. He'd noticed her. Sure he'd run away soon after but that small kernel of affection had been one of many to bloom hope in her heart for the last Uchiha. Yet…Sasuke had never looked at her that way again and here Naruto was reiterating the Uchiha's words from so many years ago. It didn't make any sense.

"Naruto…" she started, her heart thundering loudly against her rib cage. "Last night you kissed me and…you said my forehead was cute."

"Did I? Aw shit sorry about that-" Naruto replied, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"When we were genin, Sasuke had said the same thing to me."

Naruto's eyes widened immediately at her words, all thoughts of covering up his mistakes from last night had vanished. She watched as recognition flashed in his eyes. Slowly but surely it changed to guilt and the knot in her stomach twisted uncomfortably with realization.

"That wasn't Sasuke was it." She said softly, slipping out of the bed.

"Sakura-" Naruto started, reaching out to keep her from leaving.

Tanned fingers passed through empty air.

She was already out of reach.

 **….**

Hinata sighed as she slowly shuffled down the hallway to the bedroom. Her wet hair clung to her neck and face in thick, wet ropes as she lazily tried to dry it with a towel. Normally she wouldn't feel so tired. She didn't have missions or hospital duties so she had to reason to feel fatigued. Physically she was fine but her mental state was another story….

…. _"In the end, I was the one that killed him."_

 _Hinata nodded slowly at his confession. She knew the overview of the fate that had befallen the Uchiha. As a little girl, she'd peered through the cracks in the shoji doors and listened to the hushed whispers of her clansmen. She heard rumors of streets washed in blood and the multitudes of bodies that had been found. Young and old. They were all the same. No survivors remained…well, save for one. Uchiha Sasuke. She didn't know much about him save for the fact that she saw him at school. He came to interclan meetings as well but he'd never looked her way. He was too busy following after his older brother._

 _Itachi, on the other hand, was someone she'd heard a great deal about. His prowess as a shinobi was often whispered about among the elders, a mixture of fear and intrigue woven within their words. From behind the robes of Ko and her father, she'd only caught the barest of glimpses of the Uchiha prodigy. Proud and strong and powerful. He was to be the next head of the Uchiha. Yet, he was the one that slaughtered them all, sparing the life of his clingy little brother._

 _At the time it didn't make any sense. She didn't dwell much on the matter either. She had her own problems to deal with. Her own clan to protect. Now was different though. Now the only thing separating her from taking on the last name of Uchiha was the simple matter of a marriage ceremony. Even without their impending marriage, she found that her heart tugged uncomfortably as she listened to Sasuke's words. His problems were her problems._

" _That was what he'd wanted since the beginning. I still don't understand why." Sasuke mumbled and Hinata reached out in the grass to place her hand over his._

" _Sometimes it's okay not to understand." She said softly, shifting her gaze to the grave in front of her. She could barely make out Neji's name now that darkness had fallen over the graveyard. "There's a lot I still don't understand."_

 _There was so much she didn't understand but she'd come to terms with it. Everything didn't have to be defined right away. With time things would become clear even if it felt impossible at the moment. When Neji had died she hadn't spoken to a soul for longer than she cared to admit. She went through the motions of life but everything felt different. Training was pointless and seeing his teammates hurt more than she could imagine. The loss still hurt._

 _She wasn't sure if she would ever stop blaming herself for putting Neji in such a position that he would sacrifice himself for her. Yet, she knew that he would be angry if he saw her unhappy. She couldn't allow his sacrifice to go in vain so she had to do her best. Even when it hurt. Even when she was afraid. She had to do her best. It was what Neji had done his entire life and it's what he would want her to do as well. Itachi had spared Sasuke for a reason-whatever that reason was. He had to do his best as well. Hinata smiled to herself and turned Sasuke who was staring pointedly at her cousin's grave._

" _I think…I think Itachi just wanted you to do your best." She said, dark eyes snapping up to her face._

 _Hinata blushed, her smile faltering slightly as she remained under his intimidating gaze. She didn't look away as he continued to stare no matter how uncomfortable it made her._

" _You are strange." He said flatly before raising himself up from his spot in the grass. The small puppy whined against his chest at being jostled. "Let's go."…_

… _._ Hinata bit her bottom lip as she recalled the exchange. How could she have said such a stupid thing?

'Do your best?' the Hyuuga mentally admonished. 'He just spent an entire afternoon talking and that's the best you can come up with?'

Groaning, she pressed her forehead against the door and squeezed her eyes shut. If Sasuke had talked about Itachi to Naruto she was positive that he would have said the right thing. Naruto had a knack for making people feel better. Even Sakura would have been a better option for their conversation. She'd known Sasuke for years. They were teammates. She knew things about Kiba and Shino that she would never divulge to anyone. Perhaps it was the same between Sasuke and Sakura? At the very least she would have said something better than 'Do your best'!

" _You are strange."_

Sasuke's words reverberated in her mind and made all of the color drain from her face. No longer was she embarrassed. No, she was mortified. When she'd first discovered that the Uchiha was being kept alive in the hospital basement she was indifferent. When she signed their contract she was resigned to a sense of duty and obligation. Somehow those feelings of indifference and duty had slipped away and in their place was a latent desire that surprised even herself. It wasn't like how she was with Naruto. With him, her desire was to be noticed and to be someone as bright and as strong as he was.

With Sasuke…it was different…

"Hinata." A muffled voice called through the door and broke her out of her thoughts.

Slowly she opened the door to the bedroom and took a hesitant step inside. Sasuke laid on the bed, a pale arm over his eyes. Their still-unnamed puppy was curled up in a pile of blankets at his side closest to the window.

"You knew I was there?" she asked nervously and the Uchiha grunted.

"I can sense when you are close." He explained as she slowly approached the bed to sit on it.

Hinata nodded despite the fact that he wasn't looking at her. It was reasonable that he could fell when she was close by. Likely his senses had heightened themselves during his months of blindness, kicking themselves into overdrive since they couldn't rely on sight. The bed creaked slightly as her weight was added to it and she blushed when a dark eye peered up at her from the crook of his elbow.

"Your hair is wet." He mumbled and Hinata felt her blush deepen at the droplets of water that had fallen on his arm when she'd sat down.

"I'm sorry." She said and resumed towel drying her hair with a new vigor.

She was so focused on her task that she didn't pay any heed to the fact that Sasuke was sitting up. When he grabbed her wrist she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, he must find her annoying by now. All he wanted to do was sleep but she was clearly preventing that from happening.

"Stop apologizing." he growled and removed her hands from her head.

He replaced her hands with his own on her towel and took over drying her hair. He was surprisingly gentle as he ran the towel down her hair, squeezing the tresses of any excess water.

"You apologize to everyone even when you've done nothing wrong. It's annoying." He said.

Hinata blushed and bit her bottom lip. First, she was strange. Now she was annoying. She really wasn't winning any points with him was she?

"I'm sorry-"

"Just stop. You shouldn't apologize to anyone." Sasuke interrupted. "Uchiha don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

"I'm- I mean…okay."

She felt her blush deepen as she processed his words in her mind. Uchiha don't apologize. It sounded rude on its face but not unfamiliar. Hyuuga didn't apologize either. She could not remember a single instance that her father, or anyone from the main branch for that matter, had apologized to anyone. Swallowing thickly, Hinata turned around to face Sasuke and he paused in his task.

"What else do Uchiha do?" she asked.

Sasuke pressed his lips together in a tight line, a small frown tugging at the corners of his lips. Was he angry with her? Did asking about his family only throw salt onto the wounds she'd already reopened earlier that day? Hinata looked down and turned her head away from him. How could she be so insensitive?

Strange.

Annoying.

Insensitive.

At this rate, all she wanted to do was sneak off to the spare bedroom and bury her head underneath the covers. Warm fingers brushed against her chin, tilting her face upward and forcing her to stare back at him.

"Uchiha don't look down."

"I'm-" she started but the way his eyes narrowed made her words catch in her throat. "Alright."

Her heart skipped a beat as a small smirk graced Sasuke's features and a deeper blush colored her own. However, her embarrassment didn't last long. He seemed almost amused by her response and if she wasn't going crazy there was a bit of acceptance there too. Straightening her back, she turned away from him to sit how she was before and allowed him to continue drying her hair. Sasuke let out a short snort at her antics but resumed his task.

"Tell me more please." She said and she could almost see the man roll his eyes behind her.

"Uchiha do not say 'please'." He scoffed.

She might be annoying and strange and insensitive but there were some things that she wouldn't compromise on. Saying 'please' was at the top of the list. Hinata smiled even though she knew that he couldn't see her and raised one of her hands up to touch his.

"This Uchiha will."

 **….**

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Sasuke growled, biting back a rather colorful string of curses he wished to unleash upon the silver-haired man. The asshole knew that he could barely see more than a few inches in front of his face without everything turning into a blur. He just got some kind of sick amusement out of taunting him.

"Alright fine just try again from the top."

Sasuke frowned, narrowing his eyes at the Hokage that stood before him. He didn't _want_ to try again. Kakashi sighed and ran a hand lazily through his hair.

"I understand that it's uncomfortable for you but I can't help you unless you try again."

The Uchiha's frowned deepened but he closed his eyes anyway and tried to concentrate. He could feel the chakra behind his eyes, pressing fervently against the final wall that was necessary before his kekke genkai would activate. However, when he opened his eyes and watched Kakashi's shoulders slump, he knew that he was unsuccessful.

"Dammit." He cursed under his breath and slumped down into the grass.

"Hinata said that you had activated it before yes?" Kakashi asked. "Tell me what happened."

He had activated his eyes before but that was largely by accident and there was no way in hell he was going to tell Kakashi. His perverted mentor did not need to know that his hormones had gone haywire. Kakashi huffed at his silence and resigned himself to taking a seat on the grass as well.

"You'll be able to control it in time I guess." He said with an exasperated sigh. "The council's not going to like this."

"What the hell do they want?" Sasuke growled.

He wanted nothing to do with the council and their schemes.

"Well, you are a shinobi of the hidden leaf. They'd like for you to get back to missions as soon as possible."

Sasuke snorted and placed an arm over his tired eyes. He hadn't done a mission in the name of the Leaf in so long. What did they want him to do? Rescue a cat? Slaughter a clan? His upper lip curled at the thought.

"It won't be as bad as you think Sasuke. This _is_ a time of peace." Kakashi chuckled beside him. "While I am Hokage things will be different. I can't promise you won't do things you don't like but it will be different. Besides, it would be a shame to let your talents waste away."

The Uchiha peeked out from the crook of his elbow at the older man who was pensively staring up at the sky. Kakashi wanted something and it wasn't just to keep his skills sharp.

"What do you want?" he huffed.

"Do I always have to want something?"

"You always seem to."

"Fine." Kakashi sighed. "I need you to take over the Anbu-"

"Hn. Forget it." Sasuke scoffed.

There was no way he was joining the ranks of the silent lapdogs that kept watch over him day in and day out. Kakashi had officially lost his mind.

"Hear me out-"

"I'm not doing it."

"Well, it's not like you have much of a say in the matter. You said so yourself that no one would be willing to be placed on a team with you."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with it. When I step down Naruto will take my place. At that time I'd prefer to have the leader of the Anbu be someone that he trusts instead of someone in the council's pocket."

"What's in this for me?" Sasuke asked.

Everyone else seemed to get something out of this deal. Kakashi got peace of mind. Naruto gained someone he could -idiotically- trust. What was left for him? He didn't want the position anyway.

"I will grant you the permits you need to rebuild." Kakashi said simply.

Sasuke's eyes immediately popped open at the prospect. Everything from before at been destroyed. Every shard of glass, every piece of crumbled brick. All of it was gone. All that remained was a single story house, shoddily crafted and sure to be drafty come winter. There were crows, an obscene amount of crows, that had taken to the branches of the few trees that remained standing. There was nothing left of the once proud Uchiha clan. Whatever they rebuilt upon this land would not be the same as the district of his youth.

' _Maybe we can try again.'_

It seemed almost like an eternity since Hinata had spoken those words of optimism. He remembered his exact reaction to those words. Hate. Disgust. Confusion. What a simple, stupid woman she was to suggest that he even wanted to try again. Yet, as he removed his arm from over his eyes and stared up at the expansive blue sky his negative feelings towards the prospect ebbed.

' _Maybe we can build something new.'_

We.

It was such a simple word, only two letters and a single syllable. Within that one word held the world. The world that Hinata had created for them in the ruins of a disgraced district. A world that could be as silent as the grave or vibrant and full of loud voices. A world that was comfortable to him and growing increasingly familiar with each passing day. He was…satisfied with the way things were…right? This was enough right?

' _I think that Itachi just wanted you to do your best.'_

Sasuke frowned at that recollection and got up from the ground. It wasn't that she was wrong. It was the fact that she was right that bothered him the most. The fact that his complacency was something that his brother would not approve of.

"Sasuke-" Kakashi started but the Uchiha shook his head.

"I'm not doing it." He said flatly, shoving his hands in his pockets and heading back towards the house.

Kakashi didn't say anything more nor did he follow him into the house to try to convince him otherwise. Perhaps he realized that this was too big of a request. The last thing he wanted to do was end up as a Konoha lapdog. Frowning he made his way through the small house, unsure of what he was in search of. When he reached the hallway that led to the bedrooms something different made him pause. He stared curiously at the guest bedroom whose door was slightly ajar. That door hadn't been opened since Hinata had started sharing his bed. What was it doing open now?

Curious, he pushed open the door to see what was going on. On the bed sat the runt, sleeping peacefully in a pile of towels that Hinata had yet to fold and put away. In a chair next to the bed, Hinata sat with a box full of tools that he hadn't seen in years. Needles, multicolored threads, yarn, thimbles, and buttons. It was a sewing box that would have put his own mother's to shame. Pale slender fingers gracefully pulled at a needle with dark red thread, back and forth in an almost hypnotizing pattern. Sasuke rubbed his eyes, hoping that he could strain himself just a bit more to see what she was sewing. He took a step closer and the floorboards creaked under his weight. Hinata jumped at the sound, large pale eyes looking up at him in surprise.

"Sasuke." She said, her voice softer than normal so as not to wake the sleeping runt. "Have you finished training with Kakashi?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he walked over to where Hinata sat.

He didn't want to think about the man who had just left.

As he approached, Hinata seemed to grow tenser, her fingers gripping the dark material in her lap tighter. He reached to grab it but she kept the fabric out of his reach and held it close to her chest. Sasuke raised a brow at her as he stood empty-handed. What had gotten into this woman?

"I-I'm so…I mean I didn't want to throw it away." She stammered nervously. "Everything else is gone. I-I couldn't throw it a-away."

Sasuke let her ramble on until she ran out of steam. Nothing she said was making any sense and she was talking herself into circles. Patiently he held his hand out until she finally stopped talking and reluctantly handed over what she'd been trying to hide.

"Please…don't be angry." She whispered as her fingers slipped away from the fabric.

Exhaling slowly, Sasuke unfurled the dark fabric and held it out in front of himself. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a simple black t-shirt. However, the wide neck signified it as something more. Something…familiar. Slowly he turned the shirt around to the side that Hinata had been sewing on and his breath caught in his throat. The Uchiha symbol, though slightly faded and in desperate need of repair, stared back at him proudly.

This shirt, as well as others like it, was an integral part of his childhood, an outward identifier of what it meant to be apart of the Uchiha clan. It's legacy-his past- had been all but erased. Who would care about a shirt like this or the people it belonged to? Who would care to know what happened the Uchiha? At the rate they were going they would be regulated to little more than a footnote in Konoha's continued history. A disgraced clan that had rotted from the inside out. This was not the story Itachi would have wanted to be left behind.

' _Itachi just wanted you to do your best.'_

Maybe he left him alive to return their clan to its former glory. The task was much too daunting to place upon the shoulders of someone like him whose heart was full of hate and yet…here he was. Alive. Breathing. The last Uchiha. Slowly he looked up from the shirt in his hand to the woman sitting nervously before him, hands wringing in her lap and eyes trained to the floor. What did he tell her about looking down? He was the last Uchiha…for now. Silently he turned away from her with the shirt still in his grasp and made his way outside to where he'd last left Kakashi. Fortunately, the man was still outside conversing in a hushed tone to the two masked shinobi on duty for the day.

As soon as Sasuke set foot on the back deck, Kakashi raised a hand to silence their conversation and regarded his approach warily. The Anbu visibly became tenser as he came closer. Sasuke smirked, a not so small part of him enjoyed how uncomfortable he made his guards. Now that he partially had his sight back, it was entertaining to see their reactions.

"I want to pick who is allowed to build." Sasuke said firmly as soon as he arrived in front of Kakashi. The older man looked at him curiously and scratched his covered chin pensively.

"The construction units are spread thin as it is-" Kakashi started but as soon as he saw the blank look on Sasuke's face he relented. "I'll see what I can do."

"I also want the Uchiha scrolls to be unlocked and delivered here by morning. They've been in your grubby hands for too long."

At his snide comment, one of the Anbu stepped forward to confront him but Kakashi held out an arm to block him.

"Anything else?' he asked.

Sasuke opened his mouth but paused before saying anything. What else did he want? Clearly, Kakashi was desperate enough to trust him to enlist within the ranks of the Anbu. In his current state, he'd struggle to defeat a genin. Kakashi had far too much faith in him rising through the ranks. That was his loss though. Out of habit, Sasuke felt his fingers curl around empty air where his katana should be. Its absence was almost reminiscent of missing a limb.

"Well?" Kakashi prompted.

"Return my sword." He said and at this, he could have sworn that Kakashi was smiling beneath his mask.

"I'll see what I can do."

 **…..**

The next morning Hinata found herself welcoming the day as she usually did with the sun peeking shyly through the blinds. As was her routine, she slipped from the warmth that Sasuke's arms provided. Hinata then scooped up their new puppy in her arms and quietly made her way out of the room. She spared a single glance at the sleeping Uchiha, a smile creeping on her face as she watched him lay peacefully on his own. The peace wouldn't last for long. It was almost like he had a sixth sense for when she disappeared but hopefully, he would remain asleep long enough for her to wash up and get breakfast started.

Quickly, she went about her morning rituals as she usually did although her shower was faster than she would have liked due to their puppy scratching at the shower curtain. After showering and brushing her teeth she went into the kitchen to prepare a bottle for the puppy and breakfast for themselves. As soon as she started frying bacon, she heard the door to their bedroom creak open and the sound of Sasuke's shuffling down the hall. Hinata bit her lower lip as she heard the bathroom door close just to keep herself from smiling too big. She wasn't quite sure why she felt so elated since yesterday.

Sasuke had said nothing to quell her insecurities. After he'd taken the shirt she'd saved from the wreckage she was sure that he would be angry with her but the energy he exuded was different. The dark cloud that usually hung over his head had disappeared and he held his head a little higher. He stared at her for longer than normal and held her close without hesitation. Cupping her now blushing cheek, her smile grew larger as she remembered his arms wrapped protectively around her waist. It made her feel nice and warm and safe. The memory was so vivid that it almost felt as if he were holding her now…

"Food." A deep voice rumbled behind her and she would have jumped twenty feet into the air if his arms weren't keeping her anchored to the ground.

"Sa-Sasuke!" she gasped. His chuckle vibrated down her spine making her heart skip a beat and her toes curl on the cold linoleum.

"Hmmm." He growled.

Hinata shivered at the sound and he pressed himself against her. What had gotten him into this mood? Not that she was complaining but still. She enjoyed the attention though. The way his lips barely brushed against the curve of where her neck met her shoulder. It was oddly intoxicating for him to tease her in such a way.

"Sasuke." She sighed and leaned back into him. "Good morning."

Warm fingers traced the sliver of bare skin just above the waistband of her shorts, leaving sparks of electricity in their wake. A shiver ran through both of them at the contact and it took all she had to pull away from him.

He might be her husband soon but he wasn't her husband _yet._

…..

The Hyuuga compound was silent as Hanabi wearily made her way through the front gate. The guards nodded a silent acknowledgment at her as she passed by and she returned the gesture. She yawned as softly as she could as she made her way up the dark path, eager to find her way into bed. Her last mission had taken her away from anything that held the smallest resemblance to a bed for three days. She was beyond tired and her muscles screamed at her to stop moving but she pressed forward. Each step was more painful than the last but they all promised the sweet respite of sleep would follow shortly.

'Sleep.' She thought wistfully.

Kami she couldn't wait to sleep!

"Everything's assembled." A hushed voice whispered just as she passed by what should have been an empty room.

Hanabi paused just outside of the shoji door and tried to make out more of the conversation. Everyone should be in bed right now. The only people who had any reason to be awake were the guards.

"The girl is not enough of a deterrent."

"Hiashi knows best."

"But his own daughter?"

"You dare to question his authority on the matter?"

The room fell silent. Any more protest was swallowed by the room's occupants and left Hanabi more confused than when she started. What were they talking about? Who was supposed to be a deterrent? Was it her…no. It couldn't be her. Hanabi felt her eyes widen with the revelation just as the shoji door began to slide open. Her fatigue forgotten, she slipped into a nearby alcove and held her breath, praying all the while that no one sensed her presence.

"This is disgusting. He should have never signed that contract in the first place. Their blood is tainted-"

"Hush now. There is nothing more that can be done."

Hanabi pressed both of hands over her mouth and nose in an attempt to make herself as small and as quiet as possible. The next few moments felt like an eternity as she listened to the footsteps of the pair retreat down the dark hallway, none the wiser to her presence. When she could no longer hear them she took a large gulp of air and willed her heart to stop beating so frantically. This couldn't be happening.

What was her father going to do that had even the elders opposing him?

 ** _To be continued_ … Becoming Enflamed**


	25. Becoming Enflamed

**CCNote:** **This is the last chapter of Becoming an Uchiha. Whaaaa?**

 **Special thanks to:**

 **Dofuku Mochiin, maxridelover, dsacha73, Shikara Gizzel, MadEmpress, DAngel7, , musicaldove, hima21, SilverDreamsCA, Splaaaaash-attack, WhiteGems, jaylamode, Undercoverbarbie, NothereNorthere, Naoko Ichigo, Wandering Ship, chestnutpoboy, and Katarina-hime for all of your reviews and continued support for this story. Your words never fail to make me smile. A big reason why I write is because it makes wonderful people like you happy.**

 **Special shout out to all of my guest reviewers especially Mel! I always always always look forward to your analysis and it makes me so happy to know someone likes my work as much as you do.**

 **To all of the guest reviewers, the longtime lurkers, and even the trolls please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!**

 **Becoming Enflamed**

As the morning wore on it was becoming increasingly clear that Sasuke was not going down without a fight. Now that he had his sight partially back it appeared that he was more determined than ever to regain all of the losses he'd taken since the war. Hinata ducked as a kick came hurtling towards her head, a whoosh of air ruffling her hair as his leg barely missed. Him being so determined was fine by her. She hadn't had a good spar since the war had ended and with this new found vigor, Sasuke was proving to be quite the challenge.

"Scared?" Sasuke taunted as she carefully circled around him, giving him a wide perimeter.

"Never." She said and lunged.

It wasn't as easy to take Sasuke down now that he could actually see her form. He was able to dodge much more easily and grab her at will. He was cocky though and overconfidence could mean the downfall of even the most talented shinobi. That much was proven by the fact that he allowed her to hit him head-on, pressing his own body forward so the force of her hit added to the momentum when they fell to the ground. It felt as if all of the air had been knocked out of her lungs as soon as her body hit the ground.

"Hn. I win." Sasuke gloated.

Hinata blinked up at him, well the two versions of him that kept swinging back and forth. Ignoring the way her body screamed for her to back down, she pressed her hands against his chest and infused a bit of chakra to send a small shock through his body. Sasuke immediately lost his focus, giving her the edge she needed to flip their positions so that she was the one on top.

"I win." She said breathlessly and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her.

"I thought we agreed to no chakra." He growled but it did nothing to sour her small sense of victory.

Sure she'd cheated but it was his fault for believing her. Smiling, she tried to get up but strong hands firmly held onto her him.

"Sasuke-"

"You cheated."

If he was more expressive she was sure he would have pouted. Instead, he stared up at her blankly, a slight hint of displeasure in his voice. He looked rather cute when he was being childish. Hinata bit back a giggle and leaned down closer to him.

"Uchihas don't apologize." She said before kissing him.

It was a short kiss, little more than a peck, but Sasuke's reaction to it felt as if it were anything but. He stared up at her, his eyes unreadable but her face flushed red anyway. Maybe he was more upset about her breaking the rules than he let on. Maybe he didn't like her kissing him.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" she stammered and tried to cover her burning face with her hands.

"Are you apologizing for cheating or kissing me?" he asked.

"Both? Maybe?"

"Hn."

At his grunt, Hinata peeked through her fingers to watch him sit upright. His hands moved from her hips to her wrists and he pulled her hands away from her face. He was so close. Too close. Kissing was fine. She could do kissing. However the way he was looking at her now felt as if he wanted to devour her. That notion alone made her entire body heat up intensely.

Warm lips catured her own, molding against hers with the intent for more. Hinata shivered when his tongue swiped against her bottom lip and her mouth instantly opened to him. Instinctively she melted into his kiss, enjoying the way his tongue brushed against her own.

They shouldn't be doing this. This kiss was not like the previous one. He wanted more from her. What should she do? There was honor in remaining a virgin until marriage. That was what she was expected to do. However, as he continued to kiss her senseless her notions of honor and duty began to slip away.

' _Don't over think things or you will hesitate in a moment that you shouldn't.'_

Kurenai-sensei was right. She shouldn't hesitate. Not when her entire body felt as if it were about to burst into flames at any moment. She could stop at any time she wanted but right now with the grass at her back and Sasuke's lips against hers she only wanted to relish the feeling. Unfortunatly as soon as she let her self control slip just a little bit, Sasuke pulled away from her.

"Sasuke-" she squeaked as Sasuke lifted her up in his arms and skillfully carried her towards the backdoor. "W-w-what are you doing?"

The Uchiha grunted and slid open the slightly ajar door with his foot.

"Would you rather we have an audience?"

Hinata's eyes widened as she remembered the ever present watchful eyes they were under. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that their little makeout session in the yard would make it back to the Hokage. Groaning, she hid her face in Sasuke's chest and tried not to think too hard about it.

Once they were away from the prying eyes of the Anbu on the roof, he quickly made his way to their bedroom where he deposited her on the bed. His body was on top of hers in an instant, his lips claiming her own as if it were his first time kissing her. His kisses were more urgent and greedy as he took advantage of her readily open mouth. The warmth in her stomach grew as she tentatively met his tongue with her own. The small action encouraged the Uchiha further and he let go of her wrists. Without breaking their kiss, he braced most of his weight on his forearm while his left hand snaked it's way up her shirt. His fingertips made her shiver and despite her nervousness, she wanted him to continue. Was this what it felt like to be wanted? To be desired? Unsure of what to do with her own hands, she decided to mirror his own actions. However, as soon as her fingers ghosted over the warm skin of his abdomen he immediately grew tense and pulled away.

"Sasuke?" she asked breathlessly as she lifted herself up onto her forearms and stared up at him. "Did I do something wrong?"

The color drained from her face with the realization that she probably had. Sasuke had likely been with countless women who had a lot more experience than she did. How had they kissed him? Touched him? The thought of him being with another woman, albeit in the past, made an odd cocktail of jealousy and insecurity swirl within her. He was probably disappointed with her.

"I…I don't have much experience in this area." She mumbled, her cheeks no longer lit up from arousal but embarrassment.

Sasuke shifted off of her, rolling onto his back and laying beside her on the bed with a huff. Hinata tried to swallow but found it to be nearly impossible.

"I don't handle…touch well." Sasuke said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

Hinata shifted onto her side and stared at the Uchiha. He didn't handle touch well? She opened her mouth to question him but he was pointedly looking away from her and the tips of his ears had turned bright red. Was he…embarrassed? If he'd been with women before why was he so adverse to her? Unless…

"Sasuke." She started, parsing her words carefully in her mind before she uttered them. "Have you had experience with other women?"

Her heart thrummed loudly in her ears as she waited with bated breath for a response. He did not verbally reply to her question but his silence alone was enough of an answer. She knew he would never say it out loud but it appeared that they were in the same novice boat. As strange as it was, it was almost a bit of a relief to know that she was not competing with imaginary experts in her mind.

Slowly but surely her own embarrassment and insecurity began to seep out of her and a warm feeling of contentment took its place. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she curled into the Uchiha's side, pressing her nose against his chest. He jumped slightly at the contact but she threw an arm over his waist to keep him in place.

"Hinata." Sasuke said, his voice tense with confusion at being in a slightly more submissive position. Usually, it was _him_ that did the holding.

"I'm sleepy." She mumbled, a lie of course but it kept him from moving away.

 **….**

"Ah. I could use a drink."

"Lady Tsunade! We still have an hour left on duty!"

"What difference does an hour make? There's a bottle in my desk anyway. We can just start now-"

"For the last time! You can't drink in the hospital!"

Sakura smiled as she watched her mentor quibble with Shizune. She couldn't fault Tsunade for wanting a drink either. Today, Sakura had found herself to have been particularly busy with no less than five births, three minor surgeries, and a never-ending trickle of miscellaneous ailments. Luckily their trainees were coming into their own and were starting to actually be more of a help than a hindrance. It would still take more time before they were able to delegate responsibilities though.

"Stop hounding me!" Tsunade grumbled and leaned back against the bench, her arms stretched out against the back. "I'm so tired."

"You should take a vacation." Sakura suggested and chocolate eyes narrowed in her direction.

"Trying to oust me already?"

The pink haired woman laughed and shook her head.

"No one can replace you Lady Tsunade."

The three woman sat in comfortable silence in the hospital gardens and for the first time all day, enjoyed the sound of silence. Sighing, Sakura looked out at the hospital gardens and allowed herself to indulge in the well-kept grounds. Everything was green and lush, the large sunflowers that line the walkway had heads that wilted downward with the burden of their seeds. Rose bushes were interspersed with patches of colorful petunias and tiny windmills blew lazily in the breeze. Along the garden path, a few of their nurses pushed patients in wheelchairs to allow them much needed time outdoors.

Despite its beauty, the hospital garden was still quite small. In time she hoped to expand to the undeveloped area beside the current hospital where a new wing would be erected. As wonderful as their medicine was, there was nothing better for recovery than fresh air and peace. Sakura sigh again, a nagging thought tugging at the back of her mind. Peace was something that she hadn't been able to truly find since the day she found out that Sasuke was getting married.

' _No._ ' She as her brow furrowed slightly. ' _That isn't true._ '

She'd felt uneasy ever since the end of the war. She'd been worried about when the Uchiha would wake up and once he had she'd been anxious for the day that he'd finally notice her. The only peace she'd found was when she _wasn't_ thinking about him. During the nights she'd spent in Naruto's apartment, thoughts of Sasuke had barely crossed her mind.

Instead, she indulged freely in Naruto's childish antics when he got home. She knew that he threw anything she cooked into the trash as soon as she fell asleep. She knew that his greatest amusement of the day was riling her up. She knew that at the end of the day, no matter how hectic it had been, Naruto would be there with that same dumb grin on his face and suddenly all of her stress would ease away. It was being with Naruto that made her feel the most like herself. It had always been that way apparently. Sakura groaned and ran a frustrated hand through her short hair. This was all too much-

 _Ribbit. Ribbit._

At the distinct sound of a frog croaking, Sakura turned her attention back to where Tsunade was sitting on the park bench. Next to her was a green frog no larger than the size of one of the garden's decorative rocks. Upon seeing the frog, Sakura dragged a tired hand over her face and groaned. When was he going to stop?

 _Ribbit. Ribbit._

Sighing, Sakura held out her hand to the frog and waited for the inevitable. The frog then opened its mouth and spit out a note into her hand before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Surprising the note wasn't wet despite its form of delivery.

"He's a persistent one isn't he?" Tsunade said and Sakura felt her face heat up at the woman's inference.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura mumbled, shoving the note into her lab coat pocket.

She didn't need to read it since she knew that it said the same thing as all of the others. She tried to act nonchalant but the way Shizune and Tsunade exchanged knowing looks between each other made it hard to keep her cool.

"I think I'll finish up some paperwork-" Sakura started and turned back to the path towards the hospital only to be stopped by yet another frog.

 _Ribbit. Ribbit._

"You should probably answer him soon." Shizune said, adjusting a sleeping TonTon in her arms. "Patients are getting weirded out by toads popping up in random places."

"There's nothing for me to say." Sakura replied.

She squatted down to accept a new note from the frog which promptly disappeared just like the one from before. As she had done with the previous note, she shoved it into her pocket without reading it.

"If there's nothing to say then tell him to stop." Tsunade grumbled, resting her cheek in her hand. "One of those little gremlins ended up in my coffee this morning. He's worse than Jiriya."

Sakura nodded. She really should confront Naruto about his persistent attempts to reach out to her. He thought he was being subtle with his approach but the man had no concept of what that word actually meant in practice.

"In any case, it's best to cut him loose now. He's got a line of fangirls a mile long being the savior of the village and all."

Sakura felt her ears prick up at Tsunade's words. Naruto had fangirls? Uzumaki Naruto? A man notorious for putting his shirt on backward in the morning and would lose his own head if it wasn't attached to his body?

"Oh don't act so surprised." Tsunade laughed. "As soon as the others catch wind that they have a chance, they'll take it. He'll get a big head I'm sure but maybe he'll mature with a girlfriend. Who knows."

"Naruto wouldn't know what to do with a girlfriend if he had one." Sakura snorted, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. Tsunade rolled her eyes and got up from the park bench.

"Well, he's not getting much practice if he's chasing after you now is he?"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune hissed.

Sakura winced.

"I need a drink." The blonde sighed before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a familiar key. "Here. You did well today. After tomorrow you are off probation."

"Lady Tsunade." Sakura gasped as she barely caught the office key that her mentor tossed over her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I expect to retire soon so I will work you even harder than before. Be ready." She said with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders before her voice took on a more serious tone. "Oh and Sakura, tell Naruto to quit it with the apology toads or the next one I see will get smashed."

 **….**

Naruto sighed as he dragged his tired body up the stairs to his apartment. The academy students always managed to wear him out, especially the class of the special cases. Surely he didn't have this much energy when he was their age? Still, as taxing as they were, he enjoyed popping in on their class from time to time when missions didn't call him elsewhere.

Yawning, the blonde unlocked the door to his apartment and reluctantly stepped inside. Once he'd crossed the threshold he was surprised to find that it wasn't empty. Instead, all of the lights had been turned on and the usual scattering of trash had been picked up off the floor.

"Hello?" Naruto called out as he stepped further into his tiny living room.

"In here!" a muffled but familiar voice shouted from his bedroom.

'Sakura!' he thought excitedly.

Had she finally accepted his apology? It only took a few steps for him to make his way over to his bedroom where he flung open the door. Sakura stood in front of his closet, eyeing a pair of pants that were much too small for him before shrugging and tossing the article over her shoulder. From there it landed on a rather sizable pile in the middle of his floor.

"Sakura…" he started hesitantly. If she was throwing his things like this perhaps she hadn't forgiven him. "What are you doing?"

"You don't get rid of anything." She said.

Naruto scratched the back of his head even more confused than before. Sure he didn't like throwing things away but you never know when something might come in handy! He winced as she pulled several torn mesh shirts off of their hangers and added them to the pile. Perhaps she really _was_ still angry with him.

"Are you gonna just stand there or are you going to help me?" Sakura asked, tossing a green shirt in his face.

"Sakura-"

"What? No Sakura-chan?"

Although her tone was serious, when she turned around to face him she looked as if she was amused. If she was amused then that meant she wasn't angry. If she wasn't angry why was she throwing away his clothes?!

"Sakura…about before…I'm really so-" he started but the woman in question held up her hand and shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it." She said, turning away from him and the closet to where her bag sat on his desk.

She then unzipped the top and turned the bag over, its contents spilling out. Note after note fell unceremoniously to the floor and all of which appeared to be unopened. With a shake, the last note fell out of her bag and she placed the now empty item back onto the desk. Emerald eyes stared back at him from across the room, now unreadable even after all of the years he'd known her.

"I didn't read any of your notes." She said, tucking an errant lock of pink hair behind her ear. "That day when Sasuke- I mean I guess that was you- said that my forehead was cute…I was so happy. At the time I thought it was sincere-"

"I wasn't lying to you. I meant what I said!" Naruto interrupted.

He might not have been himself but his words, as clumsy and as cheesy as they were, were nothing short of the truth. Sakura blushed in response and nodded her head.

"I know."

"So then why?" he asked, blue eyes dropping to the pile of unread notes.

"Because I don't want you to apologize. If you meant what you said then you should stand by it." She said as she placed her hands determinedly on her hips. "Just next time when you do it you should say it with your own mouth instead of making me think you're someone you're not!"

Naruto blinked. Was she saying what he thought she was?

"So you're not angry?"

"Naruto!"

The blonde grinned and crossed the room to where his former teammate stood. She narrowed her eyes at his approach and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm still mad Naruto!"

"But you're not _really_ mad." He said, stepping over the pile of clothes and then the pile of notes to reach her.

She began to back away from him, but his desk impeded her retreat. When he wrapped his arms around her she tried to push him away but her attempts were quite pathetic. This only emboldened him to hug her tighter because if she wanted to, she could have flung him into a wall by now. She didn't though.

"You sent too many frogs to the hospital." She grumbled albeit her words were distorted a bit by his chest.

"You didn't respond to my messages." He pouted.

How else was he supposed to talk to her when she refused to speak to him?

"You shouldn't use your summons like that. Next time don't use frogs."

Naruto pulled away from her slightly but she refused to look at him. A blush almost as bright as her hair flushed across her cheeks.

"Next time?" he asked and Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

"You're bound to make me angry again like with this apartment. Why do you have so much junk Naruto? You really need to clean this out. Half of this stuff doesn't even fit you anymore. How can you live like this geez?!"

Naruto only smiled and pulled away fully, allowing her to continue her verbal tirade to her heart's content. She was right though. Inevitably he would make her angry again.

Next time though he wouldn't use frogs.

Next time he'd use clones.

Next time…

 **…..**

"Divorce is not permitted."

"Hmmm"

"As matriarch, you have to keep up with all of the changes of the clan. Weddings and funerals. Births and deaths. Naming rites and coming of age ceremonies."

"Mhmm."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the woman's lethargy. Nothing within the contract dissuaded her or perhaps she was too tired to care. She didn't have much of a say either way. If his parents were alive neither would he. The only way out of the contract was for the head of either clan to demand it void or for all parties involved to die. Being that Itachi was dead, the responsibility of marrying Hinata fell to him and the same fate would befall Hanabi should anything happen to Hinata. Seeing as how they were not living through a war, he doubted that Hinata would meet an untimely end.

A cool breeze drifted through the Uchiha district, ruffling the feathers of the crows that lazed around in the trees. Underneath one of the trees, Sasuke sat comfortably with his back resting against its rough bark. Hinata rested with her head on his lap. Her shoulders rose and fell steadily as he lulled her into what he suspected was a semi-slumber by running his fingers through her hair. She seemed to like it when he played in her hair which was convenient because he enjoyed touching it.

"It says here that you will have to give birth to no less than two children within the first five years." Sasuke scoffed, his free hand holding their aged contract only a few inches away from his nose. "That seems…excessive."

"Mmm." Hinata mumbled as she rolled over onto her back, her eyes still closed. "It's not unreasonable or impossible."

Sasuke scoffed and sat the scroll down into the grass. Not unreasonable his ass. He looked back down at Hinata who had finally opened her eyes and was surprised to find a look of mirth within them. Pink lips were upturned into a small smile, her eyes crinkled slightly with information that she wanted to divulge.

"Twins run in the family." She said and at that statement Sasuke nearly chocked but luckily he played it off as a small coughing fit.

"What?" he said between coughs.

Hinata nodded and sat up next to him.

"It tends to skip a generation. My father was a twin remember?"

He did. Absently he ran a hand through his dark hair and let out a slow breath. Twins. It was no guarantee but it could happen. He'd have to have more than one child to revive a clan anyway. A one-man clan did not last long. Sasuke glanced at Hinata out of the corner of his eye and noticed the worried look that replaced her smile.

"Are you upset?" she asked.

Taken aback? Yes. Slightly overwhelmed at the possibility? Yes. Upset? No. If anything having children with someone like Hinata would only strengthen the Uchiha line. Now that he thought about it she was the most viable option out of all the kunoichi in the village. Sasuke smirked and gently used his fingers to straighten Hinata's messy bangs over her forehead. His parents had chosen well. His small, nonverbal gesture of assurance caused the Hyuuga to blush and move away from him so she could fix her hair on her own. Sasuke watched her, slightly amused by how cute she was when she was embarrassed.

"Sasuke." She started, her blush deepening as she spoke. "How many children do you want?"

At her words, he felt his own face heat up and he looked away. He'd thought about reviving his clan as a child but never gave it too much thought. That goal had fallen to the wayside as he'd gotten older but now….. He chanced a glance at Hinata from the corner of his eye. She was a bit blurry of from this distance but what he'd seen of her so far, he liked.

Her trademark Hyuuga eyes were not as creepy as he'd thought they'd be, the undertone of lavender in them helped to soften her appearance. Her pale heart-shaped face was framed delicately by dark hair that he wasn't quite sure was black or blue. Perhaps when his vision was back to full capacity he'd be able to figure it out. Slowly his eyes trailed from her face down her slender next and towards a part of her body that made the blood in his veins simmer. His initial impression of Hinata had been correct. She was soft but in all of the ways that she was meant to be…

"Sasuke…Are you okay?" she asked as she leaned forward to press a hand against his burning forehead.

He wasn't okay.

This woman laid next to him every night and even blind he had a challenging time keeping his hands off of her. It was disturbing how easily his baser instincts overcame all of the decorum he'd drilled into himself over the years. He'd seen many women throughout his short life. Ones that were flat and those that could spare a meal or two and everything in between. He'd ignored all of them, never once settling his eyes long enough to decide if they were his type or not. He was even able to ignore Hinata to an extent but over time his hands lingered longer than they should have and his eyes drifted lower.

It was unsettling for him to be attracted to anyone in this way but it was necessary, wasn't it? Sasuke pushed that thought to the side as soon as it appeared. Being attracted to Hinata had no bearing upon his ability to revive his clan yet he was. Undeniably so. As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Naruto might have a point. He might-maybe- actually like her.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said again, her voice a bit more worried than before.

' _Sasuke.'_

He certainly liked the way she said his name. Even when she wanted answers she was never demanding. The way his name passed through her lips felt as if it were meant to be that way. Sasuke blinked at his own train of thought and moved away from the Hyuuga's hand. Being outside for so long had him thinking crazy thoughts.

"Hinata-sama!" an unfamiliar voice called in the distance. "Hinata-sama!"

The woman in question tensed but didn't answer the voice that was calling out to her. Sasuke looked at her curiously but she refused to return his gaze. Instead, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before standing up. Her back rigid and her shoulders squared, she took a step forward in the direction of the voice.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked, his words spilling out before he had a chance to stop them.

Hinata looked over her shoulder at him and although at this distance she was blurry, he knew she was smiling.

"I'll be back soon."

With that, she left and in her place, a chill set in.

 **…..**

"Nee-chan it's me!" Hanabi shouted at the door before her.

She'd been knocking for the last ten minutes at least but no one had come to answer the door. While the Uchiha District was creepily empty she knew that its sole member and head was at home. The Anbu staring at her from the roof told her that much. Why wasn't her sister answering the door? It was only just after sunset so she should be home! Taking a deep breath she raised her fist to knock on the door again only to have it yanked open.

"Hina-where is my sister?" Hanabi demand upon seeing that the Uchiha was the one who answered the door. Before he could open his mouth to answer she pushed her way into the dimly lit house. "Hinata!"

"Stop yelling." The Uchiha grumbled, leaning against the open doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

Hanabi whirled around on her heel and glared at the man. How could he act so calm at a time like this? It had taken her a few days of snooping to figure out what her father had been planning. Most of the branch members were ignorant of what was going on under their very noses but she knew that something was off. It was only when she saw the dojo being prepped for the sealing ceremony less than half an hour ago that she finally put all of the pieces together. They were going to seal her sister. They were going to _seal_ her. How could her father do something like this? What was the point of tying Hinata to this loathsome man if he was just going to seal her in the end?! Hanabi felt her nails dig into the fleshy parts of her palms as she tried her best to keep her composure.

"Where is my sister?" she asked through clenched teeth as politely as she could. Dark eyes narrowed suspiciously at her and he took a step forward.

"You of all people should know where she is." He said evenly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Hn. One of your clansmen came by to collect her earlier."

Hanabi felt her suspicion of the Uchiha drain away and was quickly replaced with panic. No. This was _not_ happening. Sasuke took another step towards her but she ignored him and began to pace back and forth. It was the only thing she could do to keep her mind from running away from her.

"What is going on?" Sasuke asked.

The teen glanced at him as she continued to pace. Did he really not know what was going on?

' _Dammit!'_ Hanabi mentally cursed. _'It is just like her to suffer in silence! How can she be so stupid?'_

"How long has Hinata been gone?" she asked.

"Twelve minutes, forty-three seconds." He replied flatly, his answer was enough to make Hanabi stop in her tracks and turn to face him fully.

"You keep an exact log for how long she's away?"

The Uchiha didn't reply but Hanabi continued to eye him curiously. The fact that he kept such a close watch on Hinata's coming and goings took off a lot of the apprehension she had about him. This man was a liar and a traitor but he was also just plain… _weird._ Brushing that analysis aside she shook her head and made her way to the door. If Hinata had only been gone for twelve minutes that meant that she had to have passed her on the way here. How had she missed her? Had she been so distracted in her panic that she hadn't noticed? Just as she was about to walk out, Sasuke caught her upper arm in a near vice grip.

"What happened?" he asked- or more like _demanded._

Hanabi raised an eyebrow at him and jerked her arm hard out of his grasp. This jerk wasn't actually worried about her sister…was he? Narrowing her eyes, she took a bold step towards him. He had no right to be worried about Hinata. It was his fault that she was in this predicament in the first place. All of this was his fault!

"The elders do not find you to be trustworthy." She said, her voice cold and firm as she kept eye contact with the man before her. "Hinata is collateral. I don't know why but they are going to seal her."

Turning away from the Uchiha, she quickly made her way down the steps of the front porch to the main gate. She'd spent far too long with the Uchiha. If she was fast enough she might be able to stop Hinata before she reached the compound. If not….

Hanabi shook her head. She couldn't think about that right now. Doubts would only slow her down. Just as she passed through the main gate, a distinct crunching of gravel joined her own before overtaking her completely. She stared, mouth slightly agape at the dark blur that whizzed past her.

' _This man.'_ Hanabi thought as she pressed her lips together in a tight line and picked up her own pace.

She had many assumptions about who Uchiha Sasuke was as a man. She would never trust him farther than she could throw him. He was stronger than he looked and would flatten the village if he felt so inclined. However, never in a million years would she have ever assumed that he cared about anyone other than himself.

 **…..**

Hinata sat with her back rigid and legs tucked carefully underneath her. As with the day that she found out about the marriage contract her father and the elders were seated in a semi-circle in front of her. This time, however, there was no space saved for the Hokage. This was not a situation that outsiders were meant to be privy to. Not even the Hokage.

"Hyuuga Hinata." The elder immediately to her father's right said, reading from a scroll that had been passed down through their clan for more generations than she could fathom. "Daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Hikari. Is the woman sitting before us who she says she is?"

"I am." Hinata said, proud of the fact that her voice didn't waver.

Her father nodded his head to confirm that she was who she said she was. It felt a bit silly having to prove her identity herself but this was usually done for branch children whose parents would speak on their behalf.

"Do you accept the marking of this seal and the terms with which you have agreed to comply?"

Hinata swallowed and nodded her head.

"Yes."

"Disobedience and noncompliance could mean death. Do you understand?"

"I do."

She knew what she was getting herself into. The elder's words did not sway her will. If it was a choice between her and Sasuke being sealed she would step in every time. He'd made so much progress over the last five months that they'd spent together. He trusted her as much as he could allow himself to. Allowing her family to seal him out of their own fear would break whatever was left of the man he was trying to become. He trusted her and she trusted him. He would not betray the village. He would not harm her clan. However, her words alone were not enough to prove this.

Behind her, the shoji door to the dojo slid open and a branch member carefully made their way to the center of the room with a tray in their hands. When they set the tray down on the tatami next to her, Hinata glanced at the setting. Only a single porcelain cup sat upon it. Clear liquid sat inside of the cup. She'd never tried it before but she knew it to be tasteless and of course, it held no odor. All the easier for children to drink it. Steeling her nerves, she reached for the cup and slowly brought it up to her lips.

She was only three years old when Neji was branded. She didn't have a care in the world at that time and yet such a weight had been placed on his young shoulders. Did he understand what was happening at the time? Was he afraid? At least right now she had a choice…something he never got to have. She didn't regret her choice even though she knew that her cousin would find it loathsome. The only thing that bothered her was the fact that she hadn't told Sasuke.

' _Sasuke.'_ She thought. _'I told him that I'd be back soon but I won't get back till morning.'_

Closing her eyes, she downed the saucer in one go before placing it back on the tray.

' _Please don't be mad.'_

As she inhaled deeply she could already begin to feel the effects of the drink she'd been given. Her muscles slowly relaxed themselves and her heart that had been beating loudly in her ears began to slow. Her father and two of the elders stood up from there seats and approached her silently.

"Close your eyes Hinata." Her father said.

She didn't need to be told to do so. Her eyes were already closing on their own. It was still nice of her father to say so. In this state, his voice was distant but it sounded almost…comforting. Her father's warm hand rest on her forehead for only a moment before the muffled sounds of a scuffle reached the ears of the dojo's occupants. The shoji door slid open with a loud crack and the warmth of her father's hand left her.

"Sasuke?" her father said, mildly alarmed by the intrusion.

' _Sasuke?'_ Hinata thought as she forced her heavy eyelids to open.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Hinata blinked at the alarmed elders, all of whom were now standing. She tried to turn around to see what was going on behind her but her muscles refused to move.

"Hinata-nee-chan!" Hanabi cried out, small footsteps scrambling over the tatami to meet her.

"Ha…na…bi?" Hinata said.

Her brows knitted together in frustration at the sound of her own voice, her tongue now too thick for her mouth.

"Uchiha what is the meaning of this?"

"Hanabi you dare to bring him here?"

What were they doing here? Why? The commotion of the elders and Hanabi's angry rebuttals all melded together in an incoherent mess of noise. She could barely keep her eyes open let alone make out what her clan was yelling. However, the room fell silent when her father raised his hand.

"What is your business before the Hyuuga clan?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calm and smooth in spite of the tension in the room.

There were also three or four of him swimming in and out of her line of vision.

"As head of the Uchiha and sole clan member, I declare this contract void." Sasuke said.

Void? Was she hearing him correctly?

She didn't have much time to parse out the meaning of his words before a scroll was tossed in front of her.

' _The marriage contract.'_ Hinata thought as her body finally relinquished its ability to hold her upright.

She barely felt her body hit the floor or the yelling that commenced soon after. In the blink of an eye, the scroll in front of her was engulfed in flames, scorching the tatami beneath it.

 _ **The End**_

 _ **Continued in Being an Uchiha (Sequel Release Date: 7/19/2018)**_


End file.
